


Not Of This Universe (Rewritten)

by Mix_It_Up



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Multi, Reader is a mage, Slow Burn, Tags will change as the story goes, and more - Freeform, but not exactly bara, cursing, laughs, reader is female, some things will be the same, the skelebois are either your height or taller, there will be, this is a rewrite of the original, while others will become different, will add tags as story goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25771096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mix_It_Up/pseuds/Mix_It_Up
Summary: (This story is a rewrite of my popular fic. I hope you all enjoy it!)You, Y/N, are a female mage. You were born with a special gift: magic. With it, you travel to wherever your magic and soul pulls you to look for and escort any anomalies back to their own world. When a sudden and gigantic tremor in the universe triggers your magic, summoning you to the well-known city of Ebott, home of the monsters, you realize that Ebott is a lot bigger than you anticipated. You meet and befriend the monster's very own savior, Frisk, who showed signs of having been around multiple anomalies, in hopes of finding the anomalies responsible for the gigantic tremor. Little did you know, it was more than your bargained for.(Updates irregularly but usually releases two chapters at a time)
Relationships: Sans/Reader
Comments: 18
Kudos: 88





	1. Chapter 1: How It Started

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome all you beautiful people to the rewritten version of my fic 'Not Of This Universe.' I hope you all enjoy this rewritten version as it will hopefully make things a little clearer as to what this story is trying to accomplish. Because this is a special time, I will be uploading the first three rewritten chapters for you all to enjoy. Let me know what you think!

You step out of your shared ride, baggage in hand, and stare up at the hotel in front of you before turning around and giving the driver a smile.

“Thanks again for the ride! Stay warm!” You say, waving goodbye. They nod and smile before driving off. You let out an excited breath, the warm cloud visible due to the cold winter January air. It was late evening. The street lights and lamp posts were already on, shining light all around. You look up and down the sidewalk you were standing on. You were here. You finally made it. The city of monsters, also known as Ebott City. You got so excited when you entered the city and just saw so many different types of monsters walking about; happy, smiling, chatting. Ever since monsters came to the surface almost four years ago you've always wanted to visit the city to see them. You were a huge monster supporter. Unfortunately your 'job' never took you in the direction of the city. _That is, until a week ago..._

You enter the hotel and go to the front desk, giving them the information they needed and receiving your room key. You thank them and head towards the elevator, pressing the 'up' arrow when you stand in front of the doors, waiting patiently.

_It was the day after New Years when it happened. A vibration in the air. A tremor. One only you could feel because your senses were wildly heightened after the 'incident.' It was something that only occurred whenever an anomaly entered your universe. But the one you felt that day wasn't just a regular old tremor. No... This one was HUGE. So huge in fact that it actually put your soul in distress. You had to excuse yourself from your worried family who saw your sudden, violent and distressed reaction so that you could calm down. That had never happened before._

_You were kinda frustrated when you realized that you had to leave so soon after you just got home to spend the holidays with your family but... you've never felt a tremor that big before. And that only meant one thing..._

The elevator doors finally open and you step inside only after everyone that was on it stepped off. You press the button that would take you to the fourth floor.

_Tremors varied in intensity depending on how many anomalies have entered your universe at the same time. The bigger the tremor, the more priority it took. And the one you felt that day, that one took_ _**major** _ _priority. Not only because the intensity of the tremor meant a lot of anomalies came through yet another wormhole, you couldn't tell how many, but it also meant you didn't know if those anomalies were good or bad. Now grant it you have experienced many tremors in your life since the 'incident' but you knew you could never realistically track down every single one you felt in your life and take care of them, be it sending them back easily with no trouble or... forcefully removing their existence from your world. You really didn't prefer the latter... but it had to happen sometimes. Sometimes the anomalies were just too dangerous for your world and their own. So when times called for it, your attention went to those of higher priority. And how did you know where to go when these tremors hit? Well... your soul told you. It always somehow pointed you in the direction you needed to go, even if you've never been there or heard of the location._

The elevator 'dings' and the doors open. You've reached your floor. You start walking down the hallway, looking for the room that matched the number on your key-card.

_Now, you were a mage. Born one actually. You had a 'natural gift with magic' your father and grandfather had put it. You discovered your powers at the age of ten on accident. It was just a hot Summer's day. You went to turn on the hose to activate the sprinkler, wanting to cool down and play in the water, when suddenly... the hose burst open and ice shards went everywhere. Ever since that day, your father and grandfather helped you control your magic even though they weren't mages themselves. Their bloodline though stemmed from a mage in the distant past and your grandfather kept everything relating to magic as it was passed down throughout the generations. He was actually happy that he was able to live long enough to see an actual mage, especially since it was you. He and your father passed on the knowledge they knew to you._

_Now normally no one would believe a story like that. After all, magic 'wasn't real.' It was all just fantasy and fairy tales and used as entertainment in children's television shows, and sometimes teen shows, and even sometimes adult shows. But you of course did believe. Because you were proof. You could perform any kind of magic you saw or experienced first hand, even if it came from a television show, which was wild because that just meant that, despite the special effects in the more live-action shows, the show just so happened to accidentally have the knowledge of real magic. Needless to say, you watched a lot of fantasy shows just to copy and test any magic you saw. Of course, not all magic could be learned, which meant that it just wasn't actual magic and just something made up. You ended up calling this power of yours 'Copy.'_

_It wasn't until your first encounter with a hostile anomaly that you learned you had a second ability. You dubbed it 'Erase' as it could erase any kind of magic a person uses against you, but only for a limited amount of time. Of course, it was quite a shock to you that day. After all, the anomaly you faced knew_ _**magic** _ _. You wanted to learn from them, and you did to an extent by copying their moves, but unfortunately they were dangerous and were causing trouble and you were the only one who could do something about it._

_You also found out later that your new ability could make literally any object disappear. Of course, once it was gone, there was no getting it back. You tried and failed many times at doing so. This became handy in later years as it has saved your life countless times from weapons being used against you._

You find your room and smile. You swipe the card and click open the door when you heard the beep. You step inside and look at your room. A large single bed, an AC unit underneath the curtained window, a flat screen TV hanging on the wall opposite of the bed's direction, and an entertainment center that held a microwave and a mini-fridge. To your immediate left was a small closet space that also lead into the bathroom.

_And then, one day... Monsters appeared. You couldn't help but remember the teachings of your father and grandfather when they told you the past between humans and monsters, even though there wasn't exactly a lot of information on it. War broke out between the two races and the humans won, thus sealing the monsters underground. It was depicted that the monsters were strong, dangerous magic-wielding beings and that they had to be sealed away by the most powerful of mages to keep the human race safe. Those stories made monsters sound like the bad guy, and for awhile, you believed it. After all, your father and grandfather have yet to steer you wrong. But then... you saw a piece of news regarding the monsters a few months after they surfaced. You watched the live feed as humans were protesting against the monsters and were treating them worse than they treated their own kind, and humans treated their own like absolute dirt on many occasions._

_You instantly started to sympathize with the monsters. They didn't deserve that. All they wanted was peace and to be go back to living on the surface they once shared with the humans in harmony so long ago. And from what you gathered about monsters from the news report, monsters couldn't even hurt a human even if they wanted to. Humans were just too strong and it was actually stated as a fact by the king of monsters in a press conference that it would literally take every single monster from the underground or even more to kill one, fully grown human being. And so, you went pro-monster._

You sigh, a little exhausted, as you collapse on the hotel bed. You needed a well deserved rest. You were on the road for almost ten hours, switching between a handful of ride shares on your way to the city. You would've taken a plane and flown to the city, or at least to the nearest airport that was close to the city and then get a ride to the hotel in the city, but something in you told you it wasn't a great idea, and you always trusted your instincts. They have never done you wrong yet.

As you prep yourself for sleep, you can't help but wonder what kind of anomalies have entered your world to cause such a huge tremor. Were they human or monster? It wouldn't have been the first time if they were monster anomalies. It was about year after monsters surfaced that you faced your first monster anomaly. At first, you were excited. You got to meet a monster. You wanted to know a lot of things. Unfortunately they couldn't stick around. You had to send them back to wherever they came from. It was your job. It became your job after the incident. You can still recall the day it happened.

_You were just minding your own business one day when suddenly a wormhole opened up right in front of you. Curious, you went in it and it was at that moment when your senses were heightened tenfold. Luckily for you, you crossed back to your own world before the portal closed on you. From then on, you could not only sense the tremors in which anomalies made when they crossed over, but you could also smell them. They had the scent of citrus. A weird scent to have but effective nonetheless once you made it your job to return the anomalies. No one really told you to make it your job to do so, you just did it after coming to a horrifying conclusion that you could've been stuck in place where you or your family could probably not have existed in. And you didn't want the anomalies that came through to your world to experience that horrifying scenario. Not only that, but you've read theories on what could actually happen if anomalies stayed in a universe that wasn't their own for too long and none of those theories were good._

_So since you knew how to open the gateway between worlds after copying the magic that opened the wormhole, you started finding anomalies after you graduated high school and were able to travel with your parents' permission. Your mother took it as you just wanting to see the world and have the best time in your youth while you were still young. Your father though, he knew the real reason. You confided in him after you crossed through the wormhole and had that terrible thought. He supported your decision and provided you with the money you needed whenever you left. You were never really gone for that long. At most, you've been away from home for a month trying to find the anomalies. Sure your soul pointed you in the right direction but it never pointed you directly to the anomaly. Nah, that would just be too easy. Of course, if you did happen to stay longer than expected you found yourself a few odd-jobs to make and save up some money before you used up all the money your father would give you, which has yet to happen._

You get in bed and snuggle up in the center. You were thankful for the big bed. You just wished it was in a corner. Ever since you were born, according to your parents, you've always thrashed about in some way at night and following it would be soft crying or whimpers which soon led to you waking up on the floor most nights when you got older and got an actual bed and were no longer in a crib. They always asked you what it was you were dreaming about to make you act that way and you answered them honestly: You had no idea. You couldn't recall ever having a dream or nightmare that would do that to you. In fact, you could never recall any dreams or nightmares you may or may not have in your life, and yet somehow, you would always wake up well rested. Even after you got your powers you father wondered if it was your magic but he could never find proof that it was. Your parents even put you through a sleep study program when you were younger and even the people studying you couldn't figure out what was wrong with you. You went through a normal REM cycle. Whatever was going on with you was a complete mystery.

You yawn and sleepily map out a plan for tomorrow. You hoped that the large number of anomalies would stay in their large group until you found them. It would make taking them back easier since they all came through the same wormhole. You always tried to make it that if multiple anomalies appeared at the same time you would send them back at the same time. It just made sense. And usually they were together. But when they weren't? Well, it made your days finding them a little harder.

***

A week had passed. During that time you've gotten to learn a bit about Ebott City and it's residents. For one, Ebott City, though high in population and large in territory, was really more suburban than urban. The closer one got to the center of Ebott, the more it looked like an actual city with its tall buildings, close-quarters living and busy streets. Whereas if one were to spread out from the center, it becomes more town-like with well spaced homes and plenty of nature and parks.

Speaking of nature, to the West of city was the infamous mountain. The place where monsters had emerged from almost three years ago. Mt. Ebott. Surrounding its base and spreading out rather far all around was a thick forest. You learned that where the city starts to end and the forest begins is where people would camp regularly on the many camping grounds available. Apparently many types of forest dwelling animals can be spotted in the forest.

And then, there was the tiny town to the south/south-west. The place were monsters built their homes from the ground up after they emerged. It was known as Little Ebott. And then, between Ebott City and Little Ebott was a really... peculiar place. You had yet to find the time to actually visit it or Little Ebott, but it was definitely on your list. You learned from the locals that the space between the two towns was known as 'Monster District.' Long story short, according to someone you talked to, Monster District was created to keep curious humans from traveling up the mountain and hurting or killing themselves just to see what life for monsters was like under the mountain. Monster District was wide in territory and in it, apparently, were some of the recreated environments that was under the mountain. It really gave people a chance to understand and learn how monsters lived before they surfaced.

Even though it's been a week and all signs pointed to this very city, you had yet to come across any signs of the anomalies. Usually it took you only a week, maybe two, to find your targets. But then again, the city was big. There was so much to explore, inside and out. It was at the end of the week that you decided to change your living space. The hotel you were staying at was eating away at your money and you needed to save as much as possible for future trips and such. So you found a nice motel a bit more south where the price was more affordable and wouldn't eat away at it so fast. You then came to the conclusion that you just might be in this city for awhile, so you decided to start looking for a job, though you wondered if anyone would even be hiring this time of the year. You also had to make sure that it was not only close to the motel, since you had no mode of transportation and couldn't waste the rest of your money in fares just yet, but had flexible hours so that most of your time could go into searching for the anomalies.

You decided to start looking down the more busier roads where it was more businesses and less housing close to the motel for a job when it hit you. Citrus. And it was _strong_. You look around and sniff the air a little. You were close. You start following the scent like a dog. You should've known. You've spent your week searching in the more populated central area of the city and came up with nothing. You were thankful for switching up your living space, otherwise you could've missed your chance and be here for who knows how long. You stop and stare as you're standing in front of a cute little cafe called 'JDs'. There was outdoor seating, though obviously no one was seated outside. You sniff the air. The scent was coming from here.

You take a breath, calming yourself. The last thing you needed was something bad happening. Right as you were about to pull open the door, it opened up. You then get hit hard with the smell of citrus. You can't help but cough and choke a little, it was so strong. _Whoever was coming out was who you were looking for-_

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? I didn't hit you with the door did I?” You look up only to stare in surprise. A child... No. Teenager. But not just any teenager. No. You knew who you were staring at. You've seen them in the news many times. _The monster ambassador. Frisk._ You were actually standing in front of _the_ monster ambassador, savior to all monsters.

“U-Um...” You stutter out only to stop as you have a thought. Frisk... was giving off that strong smell. _No... No they... they couldn't be..._ You focus on the scent again. There had to be a mistake. No way the _monster ambassador_ was one of the anomalies you were searching for. You don't think you'd be able to send them away if they were. They were a symbol for monsters. If they just disappeared suddenly, no doubt things between the humans and monsters would worsen.

“Um, Miss?” You blink and see that Frisk is now staring at you nervously and with concern.

“O-Oh um...” You had to think of something. No doubt you were scaring them with your staring. You give a nervous chuckle and smile. “I-I'm sorry for staring it's just... wow. You're... you're really Frisk. Right? The monster ambassador?” They give a sigh of relief before nodding and smiling.

“Yeah. That's me alright.” You smile.

“I just... wow. It's so wonderful to see you in person. I'm a huge monster supporter and a supporter of what it is you stand for as a symbol.” They giggle.

“Well, that's nice to know.”

“Yo Frisk! C'mon it's freezin' and we got things to do!” You look behind Frisk to see a monster about their height trying to squeeze by. When he did, you took a quick look at him. He looked like some kind of lizard and he had no arms.

“Ah. Sorry MK.” Frisk looks at you with a smile. “Well, I'm glad we've met Miss. Nice to know that there's someone like you in the world.” You flush a little and smile at their compliment only to stop and realize that Frisk was _leaving_. You couldn't have that. You still didn't know if they were an anomaly or not. You panic, which apparently Frisk notices. “Miss? Are you okay?” The concern in their voice was clear. You look at them.

“U-Um...” What were you supposed to say, ' _Hey I think you're an anomaly but I'm not a hundred percent sure so could you let me stick around so I can tell whether or not you are so that I know if I need to send you back to your own world or not?_ '?! Like that would go over well! You then jump at the sudden contact on your arm and look. Frisk is giving you a smile.

“Wanna come walk with us? We're heading to the nearby park to partake in a snowball battle with a bunch of other people.” You blink. Did Frisk just... invite you?

“O-Oh um... But you don't... know me.” They smile wider and shrug.

“Maybe not, but I know a person in distress when I see one.” Were you that obvious?

“Um... Well... I mean I guess... if you don't mind walking with an adult.” They giggle.

“It's not a problem at all. C'mon! I'll even share the snacks I bought!” They said, holding up a rather big brown paper carryout bag with the cafe's name on it. Frisk then takes your hand and starts walking, leading you away from the cafe and down the street.

“Yo, so like, what's your name Miss?” You look at the monster teen, MK, realizing you haven't introduced yourself. You smile.

“I'm Y/n. It's nice to meet you.”

***

During the time it took to get to the park Frisk had mentioned, you learned that Frisk, thankfully, wasn't an anomaly. Which, after thinking with a clear head, made a lot of sense. After all, they have been representing monsters for almost three years now plus you were never pulled in the direction of the city until the tremor. But then... another thought came to you. That just meant that they hung around with the anomalies and, judging from the power of the scent, quite often within the time they arrived. Well, now that you knew, you had to question Frisk, but that meant getting them alone, or at least out of earshot from others. No doubt it would look weird and suspicious if Frisk was off alone with a strange adult woman.

You decided to watch and wait out Frisk's park game they were having with a bunch of other monster children and human children. It looked like a game of capture the flag and snowballs were the weapons. The game came to a halt after what seemed like an hour but you didn't mind. It was kinda fun watching everyone enjoying themselves. Frisk started to pass out snack after snack to anyone that wanted one and when they were taken care of, Frisk approached you and you stared in surprise when they offered you a donut. You thanked them only to stare, eyes wide in surprise. The treat was warm despite being left in this freezing weather. Frisk giggled at the surprise on your face.

“Never had monster food I see.” They say, getting your attention.

“Monster food?” You ask curiously. They nod and smile.

“Yeah. Try it. I think you're gonna love it.” You look at the donut for a moment before taking a bite. Your eyes go even wider when it hits your tongue. Not only did it taste great but you felt some kind of tingling sensation travel all throughout your body. It felt so positive and... you felt very relaxed and your stress was just... gone. Frisk giggles at your expression. “I told you.”

“What just happened? What is this feeling?” You ask, taking another bite of the donut, feeling the tingle again and smiling.

“It's what monster food does. It helps relieve pains and aches and even helps heal injuries to the body.” _It could do all that?!_ You stare at Frisk in disbelief.

“No way... That's amazing!” You say with a smile. They nod and smile back only to furrow their brows, looking serious.

“Now I know it seems amazing, but be warned. No human can survive on monster food alone.” You blink, surprised by the sudden change in attitude.

“Why?” You ask.

“Because even though it tastes like regular food, monster food is made of magic, which _monsters_ need to survive. And because it's made of magic, there's no nutritional value for the human body to take in. You could fill up on it sure but you'll never really feel full.” Frisk frowns. “There have been a lot of incidents where humans don't take heed in these warnings and end up being hospitalized.” Your eyes widen and you stare in shock.

“I-I see...” You then smile. “Thank you for warning me Frisk.” They smile. You look around. Now seemed like a good time to chat with Frisk. “Can I... discuss something with you?” They look at you curiously and you rub your neck nervously. “I mean... Gosh, that probably sounds strange since I'm a stranger.” They shake their head.

“Not at all.” They sit next to you on the bench. “What is it?” Wow. Frisk a really trusting kid.

“Well um...” How were you going to word this...? “I'm... here in the city trying to look for a... a specific group of people and I... I feel like... you might know them.” They tilt their head and looked at you curiously.

“Oh? Who are they?” You wince.

“Well that's the thing. I... don't know.”

“You don't... know.” You hear the confusion in Frisk's voice and you fidget. _Wow this was awkward._ How were you supposed to tell the _monster ambassador_ your real reason for being here without making it seem like you were crazy or targeting whoever it was they were close to? “Huh...” You see Frisk go into thought and you give a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah uh... I mean I know they're here. I've just... been in this city for a week but I just can't seem to find them and I'm usually... v-very good at... finding people...” _Because that totally didn't sound like you were some kind of hit-man._ Frisk laughs a little.

“You sound like a hit-man.” You flinch and flush, embarrassed.

“I-It's not like that-!” Frisk laughs some more.

“I'm just pulling your leg.” They then let out a thoughtful hum. “So you're looking for a group of people here in the city and you have no idea who they are or what they even look like?” You shrink a little, embarrassed.

“I-I mean... I'll know them when I see them. They're... not hard to miss.”

“So you do know what they look like?” You shake your head. This was becoming difficult.

“I-It's complicated.”

“But you feel like I might know them?” You nod your head. “Well... I'm around a lot of people almost everyday. I mean, I may not be the monster ambassador fully until after I graduate from school but my work is never done. In fact this is kinda my day off from all that. Where I can just hang out with my friends and relax.” They smile. You feel guilty.

“A-Ah. I-I'm so sorry Frisk I had no idea-” They laugh.

“It's fine. Don't worry about it. I like helping people out however I can. And you're obviously in need of some major help.” You flush, embarrassed. “Well, since you seem so sure that I might know whoever it is you're looking for, why don't we exchange numbers? When you find out something more on who it is you're looking for, you could let me know and I'll try pooling my resources together.” You stare at Frisk in surprise before frowning.

“You're... really putting a lot of trust in me even though we're strangers. I-I mean... For all you know I _could_ be some hit-man or maybe even some psycho.” They tilt their head.

“Well are you?”

“W-Well no but-”

“Then it's fine.” They smile. “I can tell you're a good person.” You see Frisk dig out their phone from their coat pocket and look at you expectantly and patiently. You give a huff of a chuckle and a smile, shaking your head some, before pulling out your own phone and exchanging numbers with Frisk. “So, I practically have every other weekend off from my studies and stuff. Why don't we try setting up meetings with each other during those days and we can try looking for whoever it is you're looking for?” Your eyes widen in surprise.

“I-I... Y-You don't... R-Really? B-But surely you'd want to spend your time doing something else than helping a stranger.” They shrug with a smile.

“We can spend at least an hour or two together.”

“W-Wow... Thanks Frisk.” They smile wider.

“No problem.” They hop off the bench, dusting off any snow that was sticking to them. “Now don't be afraid to contact me if you think of anything. I might not respond right away, but I'll try my best.” You smile and nod and Frisk smiles, looking at the group of kids in the park. “Welp, looks like the game is back on.” They look at you. “You staying around?” You shake your head.

“No. I think I'm gonna head back to the motel I'm staying at.” They nod.

“Alright then. Talk to you later Y/n.” They then run towards the group of kids and you stand up from the bench and start to make your way back. On one hand, that went better than expected. Frisk seemed... really mature for their age. On the other... You wondered if you should tell Frisk the whole truth the next time the two of you meet. You just hoped they didn't see you as crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on tumblr if you want. I've been posting mostly status and story updates.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mixing-up-details)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Putting up what reader's home pretty much looks like
> 
> [Reader's Home](https://mixing-up-details.tumblr.com/post/190472210481/just-something-i-made-on-room-sketcher-really)

Your phone rings. You look at the contact. It's your boss. Nicest guy in the world. You found your job a few days after you talked with Frisk. You were a waitress at a cafe. In fact, it was the cafe you first met Frisk at. Turned out your boss was having trouble looking for help for awhile. You couldn't understand why until you actually started working there. It was a very popular cafe in that part of town. It was not only monster friendly, but pet friendly. And what surprised you even more, after working for about a week, was that it was Frisk's favorite place to be whenever they had the down time, which they then voiced that it was going to be their favorite place even more now that you were working there.  _ You still couldn't believe it's been three months since that time... _

***

Three months of searching, three months of coming up with nothing, three months of getting to know Frisk.  _ And every time you met up with Frisk, they still smelled so strongly of the anomalies you were looking for. _ After a month of meeting with Frisk, you had finally confessed to them what it was you were and why you were actually in the city. You just couldn't take it anymore. You needed to know who it was Frisk was seeing that made them smell so strongly of citrus. And their reaction... wasn't what you were expecting.

They took it well. Really well. They weren't even all that surprised, even when you showed them your powers. You wondered if maybe it was because they were around monsters all the time that seeing magic probably wasn't a big deal... but still, it came from you, a  _ human _ . Shouldn't they have been more surprised? When you then mentioned that you were looking for anomalies though, Frisk looked... uncertain. Guilty even. And that's when you knew. You knew that they knew who the anomalies were and they were pretending to not know who it was you were looking for. 

_When you confronted Frisk with that discovered information, they became nervous._

“I-It's not like I was trying to hide them.” They said. “It's just... I made a promise Y/n. And I intend to keep it.” You sighed.

“Frisk...” You start, sounding disappointed. “It's important that I find them. They cannot stay here, especially if they're dangerous.”

“Th-They're not-!” They stop and glance to the side nervously. “A-At least... not all of them...” They mutter, which you hear, to which your eyes widen. Frisk notices and flinches. “L-Look Y/n... you just wouldn't understand. You just... You just have to trust me.” You sigh, running a hand over your face, letting there be silence between the two of you for a moment until you spoke up.

“Fine. I'll trust you.” Frisk gives a relieved smile. You frown. “But Frisk... if I find them first, I will do what I'm meant to do.” They frown... and nod. You sigh. “Alright... Guess this means... that's it with our meetings.”

“D-Does it have to be?” You look at them, curious and a little surprised.

“W-Well... You're keeping the people I'm looking for a secret from me Frisk. The only reason we were meeting was because you said you wanted to help me find them, which was obviously a lie.” Frisk looks down, disappointed.

“O-Oh... I just thought... we were starting to become friends.” The disappointment in Frisk's voice hit you hard. If anything was your weakness, it was a sad person, no matter what the age.

“F-Friends?” You say, a little surprised. They nod and give a nervous smile.

“You uh... You mean you haven't noticed?” You blink, confused, and they continue. “The past few meetings... We've really been getting to know each other. We never really... focused on your mission.” You blink, recalling the past few meetings to realize... Frisk was right. The two of you talked about things that didn't involve making progress of finding the anomalies; You two talked about and shared each other's hobbies, likes, dislikes, life... The two of you really were... starting to become friends.

“I-I mean...” You pause. What were you to say?

“It's okay if... you don't want to. I mean... I guess that would make it weird. You being around me after everything.” You frown. Would it... really be so bad to keep seeing Frisk after this confession? You never really... made many friends. Your traveling kept you from making any real progress with people. Heck, you've never even been in a romantic relationship but you knew that those would be harder than having friends. After all, how were you to explain your constant traveling to them or what it was you were without them thinking you were crazy? You look at Frisk... _Frisk_. The monster ambassador. Someone who... now knew what it was you were and... didn't think you were crazy.

“I...” You start, getting their attention. The two of you stare at each other for a moment before you let out a sigh. “I honestly would... like to keep being your friend.” They smile. “I just... You just... Don't... hold it against me if... if I find your friends?” They frown a little and stare.

“... Okay. But only if you promise that you won't hurt them.” You sigh.

“Frisk-”

“No, you have to understand.” They interrupt, making you stare in surprise at the seriousness in their voice. “I-I get it. Dangerous people aren't good...” That tone in their voice... You didn't like it. No doubt they themselves have come across dangerous people after liberating monster kind and that thought upset you. “But promise me, _promise_ me-” They emphasize. “-you won't hurt them if they try to attack you. Promise me you won't fight them to the death.” _They were very serious._ You stare at them for awhile, thinking it over, before sighing and nodding.

“Alright. I promise.” They let out a sigh of relief. You let out a sigh yourself. Don't harm them... Could you really do that? Well... only time would tell.

***

You answer your phone with a smile.

“Heya Jer, what's up?” You hear your boss, Jeremy, give a relieved sigh.

“ _Ah, Y/n! Thank God. Hey, Claire called in sick. Do you think you can take her shift?_ ”

“Oh yeah, sure! When's her shift?” You could use the extra hours anyway, even if today was your day off.

“ _She was supposed to work four to eight._ ” You look at the time on your phone. It's a quarter past noon.

“Yeah sure. I can do that.”

“ _Thanks Y/n, you're a life saver._ ” You smile and giggle.

“It's not a problem. I'll see you around four.” You hang up. You still had some time before you had to leave so you headed towards the kitchen to make yourself some lunch. After that first month of still being in the city, you realized you were going to be stuck here for awhile, especially since Frisk wasn't 'helping' you in your search anymore, so you decided to find an affordable apartment to rent. It was a nice place. It was townhouse style but with a single floor and the arrangement of the buildings was that there were four homes in a group but only two homes connected at a time. For you, the connected home to yours was at the bottom, meaning you didn't share any important walls. 

It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small laundry room,  _ thank goodness _ , and the living room, dining room, and kitchen were practically all in one room as there were no walls blocking them off. It was really open concept. It was a bit of a walk to the cafe though, half an hour give or take, but you didn't mind it. You just used the local transportation service, which was a bus service known as EATS, or Ebott Area Transportation Service, whenever the weather got sketchy or when you were too tired from working.

When the time had finally come, you left for work. It was a nice Spring day for early April so there was no need to call for the bus service. As you leisurely walk down the busy street, getting closer to the cafe, you suddenly stop dead in your tracks as your sense of smell is suddenly invaded with the scent... of citrus. You look around. Part of your mind was thinking Frisk was nearby but... the other part of your mind knew better. This scent was strong. Very strong. Stronger than when Frisk was around. No doubt about it. The anomalies you were looking for were nearby. You take out your phone and look at the time. It's three thirty. You still had another ten minute walk until you reached the cafe. If you were quick, maybe you could find the anomalies.

You nod to yourself and start to focus on the scent, following it away from the direction you were originally heading. You speed walk. You had to. You had a limited amount of time to find the anomalies before turning around to head to work. As you felt yourself get closer and closer, you felt your heart race. You were anxious. You didn't know what to expect. You had promised Frisk that if you came across the dangerous anomalies, you wouldn't hurt them... You round a corner only to stare as you see across the street, walking away from you, was Frisk... And they were walking with three monsters. Three  _ skeletons _ . They were all taller than Frisk but one of them was practically twice their height. 

One of the 'shorter' ones was wearing a light blue bandanna around his neck and had matching colored gloves and boots. His outfit though was casual. Kind of a weird combination. The other short one had on a blue hooded jacket and was wearing black shorts and sneakers that were... untied and lazily tucked into the sides of his shoes.  _ Well that was dangerous. _ And then the tall one, he was wearing gloves and boots as well but they were an orange-red. He was dressed casually as well. And then there was Frisk. They were wearing a blue shirt underneath a pair of overalls. The whole group looked... happy... Then you sighed. If any of those skeletons were the anomalies you were looking for, you wouldn't have been able to do anything since Frisk was with them. After all, you also made another promise to Frisk that you wouldn't do anything if they and the anomalies were together.

Realizing they were getting further away, you had a choice to make. Either go and quickly chat with the group and see who the anomaly was... or turn around and head to work. Your curious mind voted to catching up with them. You quickly cross the street and make your way towards them. As you get closer you realize that one of the 'small' skeletons, though he was at least your height, maybe a little taller, same with the other small skeleton, and the tall skeleton were speaking rather loudly that you couldn't help but hear part of their conversation as you neared.

“-AND THEN I TOLD HIM THAT HIS BEHAVIOR WAS UNACCEPTABLE BUT HE JUST BARKED AT ME!” Said the skeleton in the bandanna. You then hear the other short one chuckle.

“i guess you could say he was-”

“SANS.” Warned the taller skeleton, glaring down at him.

“-all bark and no bite.” 'Sans' finished with a rather smug smile. The taller skeleton and the other shorter skeleton groaned as Frisk giggled.

“HUMAN PLEASE! DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIS BEHAVIOR! WE HAVE ASKED MORE THAN A HUNDRED TIMES!” Groaned the other short one. You couldn't help but chuckle at the situation... which caused everyone to stop and turn and look at you. “OH NO! NOT ANOTHER HUMAN WHO LAUGHS AT HIS TERRIBLE PUNS!” Frisk's face lights up and they instantly hug you, to which you return happily. You actually haven't seen Frisk in almost a month so it was nice to hug them.

“Y/n!” They exclaim as they hugged you. You giggle.

“Heya Frisk! It's so nice to see you!” You release them and they beam a smile at you. “How have you been? Not causing trouble I hope.” You joke. They giggle and shake their head.

“Nah, no trouble from me. I've been good though. Busy, but good!” You smile and then look at the skeletons and see that they're all staring at you curiously with smile. Well... actually the one that was called 'Sans' didn't look curious. He looked tired and he just... smiled but... it didn't seem right. It was off putting... _Which made you wonder if he was one of the anomalies._ The smell was still so strong and no way just this one skeleton was causing it, that is if he was one. There were still more... and the other two have obvious signs that they have been around them as well or could very well be one. Frisk grabs your attention by saying, “Y/n, these are my friends.” You smile at them and look at the skeletons.

“Hello.” You say. “Nice to meet you.” You notice that the other shorter skeleton is practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking so excited, and he had... literal blue stars in his sockets. Okay, that was kinda cute. He then extends his hand excitedly.

“IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU MISS! I AM THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY! OR YOU COULD JUST CALL ME BLUE! EITHER WAY WORKS!” You blink, a little taken by surprise by his forwardness and voice, before smiling and shaking his hand.

“Blueberry?” You question. He smiles and nods. “What a unique name.” He chuckles and shrugs.

“EH, THINK OF IT MORE AS A NICKNAME. A NICKNAME THAT'S... KINDA GROWN ON ME.” You giggle and watch as the taller skeleton extends his hand as well, proclaiming,

“AND I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” You giggle and shake his hand as well.

“It's a pleasure Papyrus.” Both of these skeletons were very energetic. You then look at 'Sans' and he just... stares with that weird smile before he chuckles and shrugs, extending his hand from out of his jacket's pocket. It was a little weird to see an actual skeleton hand.

“the name's sans.” He says. “sans the skeleton.” You snicker and shake his hand. The feeling was how you were expecting it; thin, hard bone, almost feeling like sticks. Though, he didn't put much effort into the handshake.

“Sans the skeleton? Well I never would have guessed.” You joke. He chuckles and shrugs, taking his hand back and shoving it into his pocket.

“and uh... you are?” You smile.

“My name is Y/n.” You look at all three of them. “It's very nice to meet some of Frisk's friends.”

“SO HOW DO YOU KNOW FRISK MISS Y/N?” Blue asks.

“Oh. Well... One day I just... ran into them. Or rather, they ran into me.” You weren't that far off from the truth. Frisk gives a nervous chuckle and looks at the skeletons. 

“I sorta mighta kinda have... accidentally hit her with a door.” Papyrus and Blue... gasp rather dramatically in surprise. You can't help but chuckle.

“GOODNESS!” Blue exclaims worriedly. You chuckle and wave a dismissive hand.

“That was three months ago. Besides they barely even hit me.”

“three months huh? known the kid for that long then?” Sans asks. Though... you feel like he's being cautious. You nod.

“Yeah. One thing lead to another and the next thing I know I'm meeting with this little know-it-all-” You playfully mess up Frisk's hair and they laugh. “-at least every week or so.”

“huh...” Was all Sans said. Frisk giggles.

“Yeah. In fact, aren't we due to see each other this coming Saturday?” Frisk says. You nod.

“Yep. If you're still up for it that is.” They nod.

“Of course! Maaaybe this time you'll invite me to your apartment?” You chuckle and shake your head as you hear the obvious hinting in their voice.

“Maybe not yet.” They pout only to stop and stare at your clothes.

“Hey. You're dressed in your uniform.” They look up at you and you see the worried curiosity on their face. “You're going to work? But isn't the cafe...?” They stop and you see the realization on their face. You nervously chuckle.

“H-Heh. Y-Yeah. I was actually heading there now. I uh... had a thing to do... over in this direction.” You clear your throat. “Well! I should get going! I'll see you later Frisk.” You say quickly. You look at the skeletons and give a smile and nod. “It was nice to meet all of you.”

“SAME HERE!” Blue says with a wide smile. “BE SAFE!” You giggle and wave goodbye before turning around and practically run your way to the cafe. You most definitely knew you were going to be late.

***

Three days had passed since your encounter with Frisk and the skeletons. No matter how much you tried, you never saw them again when you went searching. You even texted Frisk, asking if any one of those skeletons were an anomaly. However... they never replied back. Even though you and Frisk came to an agreement about how you would go about your business, you knew that they wouldn't rat out the anomalies willingly, especially since Frisk made a promise to protect them. You still don't know the full details of that promise. You never bothered to ask.

Your thoughts were interrupted as you heard a loud thud as well as some scraping noise coming from the front of the cafe. You look up from cleaning a table and... stare as you see a dog in a giant suit of armor trying to make their way into the cafe, yipping and panting.

“Aww man, not again.” You hear your co-worker, Nick, groan. You turn and look at him, confused. Again? You've never seen that dog in the three months you were working at the cafe.

“Who is that Nick?” You ask. He sighs.

“I don't know his name, he doesn't exactly speak English, but he's a regular.”

“A regular? I've never seen him before.”

“Well I mean...” Nick stops and goes into thought. “... Huh. I guess he has been gone most of the winter. Wonder if he went on vacation or something- HEY! C'mon man!” You jump at Nick's sudden frustration and look back at the dog, who was still trying to make his way inside. Nick heads towards the door, hands and arms moving in a shooing motion. “You know you can't come in like that! Get! Go on! If you're not gonna leave the armor at home you gotta sit outside!” You see the dog give a rather sad look and even whimper sadly. Uggghhh. Your other weakness. Sad animals. You approach Nick as he's trying to shove the dog out the door, who obviously looked stuck.

“Hey uh, Nick? Can I try?” He groans and sighs before nodding.

“Sure. Be my guest.” He walks off and you face the dog only to giggle as you are immediately licked and yipped at.

“A-Ahaha! S-Sir! Sir please!” You laugh. “As much as I appreciate the affection-!” You grab the dog by his cheeks, holding him still and looking him in the eyes as he pants happily. You can only imagine that his tail is wagging on the other end. “-you really shouldn't lick strangers. After all, you have no idea where they've been.” He yips and you chuckle. 

“Alright. Let's get you unstuck huh-?” _Citrus._

“need a hand?” You hear a stranger's voice on the other side of the armored dog. You blink. Was... Was that...?

“O-Oh uh! Y-Yes please!” You call. “He seems to be stuck.” You could focus on it later after this dog was out of the way.

“nyeh heh. yeah, i can see that. alright. on my mark, you push. ready?” You nod, even though you know the stranger can't see you, and you ready your hands against the armor. “and... push!” You push with all your might and you can hear the armor start to move against the door frame, making the wood slightly creak. “almost there, keep going!” You give another heave only to stumble and smack your face into the armored chest of the dog as he popped out. You wince in pain and rub your nose.

“Ow ow ow OW!”

“you okay miss?” You rub your nose a little more.

“Yeah I'm fin-” You stop and stare as you see... Papyrus? No... He looked just like him except... for his clothes and face. He was wearing an orange hoodie, cargo shorts and sneakers but his face... He looked _really_ tired... Like Sans.

“you sure?” He says, snapping you out of your thoughts. You see him... quirking a brow? How was that even possible? “ya look like you've seen a ghost.” His voice... wasn't as energetic either.

“U-Um...” You give a nervous smile. “S-Sorry, sorry. You uh... just remind me of someone is all.” He smirks...? It was weird to see.

“really? i remind you of someone? never heard that before consider...” He gestures to himself, which you understand. Not only was he a monster but he was a skeleton. You give a nervous chuckle.

“I-I'm sure.” You then let out a squeal only to giggle as the dog monster brings you into a hug. A rather tight hug.

“h-hey, easy there bud. ya don't wanna break her.” The skeleton chuckles. The dog licks you and you giggle more. You have a feeling he was saying thank you.

“H-Haha! S-Sir! You're very welcome and I appreciate the sentiment but-!” You wiggle your arms out of the grip and gently hold the dogs face again, stopping his licking. “Pfft. Sir this is very unprofessional.” He yips before letting you go. And that's when you realize that the dog had you at least two feet off the ground in that hug.

“heh. you okay miss? i know greater dog's hugs can be very rib crushing.” You look at the skeleton, confused, before looking at the armored dog. Greater Dog? That... Was that his name? You chuckle and look back at the skeleton.

“Yeah I'm fine. Thank you. And thank you for helping me get him unstuck from the door.” He chuckles.

“not a problem.” You look at Greater Dog and gesture behind him to the one of the available outdoor tables.

“Sir if you would please take a seat out here since I assume you are here to dine.” Greater Dog yips happily and... takes a seat in one of the chairs, obviously looking like he didn't fit in it, what with his armor. You then see the skeleton sit down across from Greater Dog and your waitress instincts kick in.

“Can I offer you a menu?” You ask him. He looks at you, letting out a thoughtful hum before chuckling and shrugging.

“sure, why not? i haven't had lunch yet.” You take out two small single sheet menus from one of your apron pockets and hand it over to the two. You then take out a notepad and pen.

“What would you like to drink?” The Greater Dog yips and the skeleton says,

“big guy says he'll just have water.” You blink, surprised.

“You can understand him?” He chuckles.

“in a sense. been around enough dog monsters to understand them somewhat.” That made sense you guessed. You nod, jotting down the drink before looking at the skeleton.

“And for you?” He gives a hum, looking over both sides of the menu rather thoroughly before saying,

“do you have any honey?” Honey? That probably meant he wanted tea. You nod with a smile.

“Oh yes. I take it then you would want tea? We have a wonderful berry blend-”

“i'll take the honey.”

_ W-What? _ You knew you were staring at him in utter confusion but when he chuckled you flushed in embarrassment for staring.

“no matter how many times i say it, it's still so _sweet_ to see humans reacting to what i say.” You blink, your brain processing what you just heard, before snickering. It was a joke.

“Oh, you're joking! Snrk! Good one sir. You actually got me!” You hear him give a chuckle and you smile, bringing back up your notepad and pen. “So what would you like?”

“eh, as funny as that was, i was being serious miss. i'll take a thing of honey.” You stare again, your smile faltering a little. Was...? He was serious?

“U-Um... I... I don't think that's possible sir. I've never...”

“you could at least check though right?” You blink, unsure.

“Um... Y-Yeah I guess...? Um... If it's... not possible, what would you want your uh... backup 'drink' to be?” He shrugs.

“if by chance it ain't possible, i'll try that berry blend tea that you mentioned.” You give an awkward smile and nod.

“Alright then. I'll be right back.” You head back into the cafe and you can't help but stop and wonder _what the actual hell?_ In your three months of working in the cafe and of being around monsters, you have never heard of a monster just... drinking something that obviously wasn't a drink. You see Nick at the counter in the back and make a bee-line for him. “Hey uh... Nick?” You say as you lean a little over the counter. He looks up at you and gives a smile.

“Oh hey! I see you got the big guy out! Nice job!”

“Th-Thanks I had some help but that's not what I wanted to say.” He gives you a curious look. You hoped you wouldn't sound insane to him when you explained the situation. “So... there's a customer out there and... he asked for something... off menu to drink and I have no idea if it's even a possible thing.”

“How off menu?”

“He uh... asked for honey as his drink.” The two of you stare at each other, sharing a moment of silence, you nervous, Nick completely dumbfounded.

“Um...” He finally says. “Is he a monster?” You nod and Nick's face shifts from confusion to relief as he chuckles. “Ah. Okay. That makes a lot more sense.” You blink, confused.

“W-Wait it does?” He nods.

“Yeah of course. We get those kind of odd orders all the time from monsters.” _Seriously?_

“I've been working here for three months and I have never had an order like that.” He chuckles.

“Well then you got lucky.”

“So... it's possible? To get him honey as a drink?”

“I mean... yeah, pretty much if your customer is a monster. I've learned through experience that certain monsters tend to ingest certain things differently than humans do.”

“Huh... I see.” Interesting fact.

“Yep. Hey uh, is that armored dog out there?” You nod. “Is he ordering?” You nod again.

“A water.”

“Okay uh... Give me a second?” You nod and he walks through the kitchen doors. You were able to take a few orders as you waited before you heard your name called at the counter. You go over and see... a bottle of honey and a pitcher full of water but no cup. “Here are the drinks.” You look at him confused.

“Where's the cup for the water?” He chuckles and points to the pitcher.

“That _is_ the cup if we're serving the big guy.” OH.

“Oh uh... okay then.” You grab both and head on outside, placing down the 'drinks' to their respective person. “Here you both are. Turns out getting honey as a drink is a possible thing. I had no idea.” You chuckle. You then see the skeleton's sockets widen in surprise as he looks at the pitcher of water, in which Greater Dog was drinking out of already.

“wow. you actually got gd a pitcher instead of a cup. most places make the mistake of givin' the big guy a cup.” You smile.

“Well apparently Mr. uh... Greater Dog is a regular here. I had no idea though. I haven't seen him at all in my time working here.”

“how long have you been working here?”

“Three months.”

_ Damn it... _ You were so caught up in conversation and your job that you forgot that you were possibly talking to an anomaly. An anomaly who also entered the city three months ago. You see him quirk a brow.  _ Shit. Had he caught on? Or did he think it was just a coincidence? _

“really? three months?” He asks before nudging Greater Dog. “where'd ya disappear to pal?” Greater Dog yips a little and the skeleton nods as he listens. “ahh i see. well, it's nice to have you back.” You then see him grab the honey bottle... and you cringe hard as you see him take a swing. You hear him chuckle and you flush, embarrassed.

“I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that. I shouldn't judge a person's habits-”

“it's alright.” He interrupts. “i get that reaction all the time. my bro hates it when i do it. says it's not good for me but hey, don't knock it till you try it you know?” He gave a wink and held up the bottle slightly. You give an awkward chuckle.

“Y-Yeah.” You then have a thought. The skeleton said 'bro' as in 'brother.' He had a brother. Was it one of the others you saw a few days ago? As much as you wanted to think on this more, you once again had to remind yourself that you were at work. You bring out your notepad and pen and give a smile. “Right then. Do you two know what you would like or do you still need some time?”

“we're ready to go whenever you are miss.” You nod with a smile.

“Great! What would you like?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on tumblr if you want. I've been posting mostly status and story updates.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mixing-up-details)


	3. Chapter 3

You ended up closing up the cafe. Of course, you practically volunteered to do it. You needed the money. Rent didn't pay itself after all. After bidding farewell to your co-workers who were also there to clean and close up, you looked up a ride share as not only were you tired but the time was nine o'clock at night. The cafe closed at eight but there were still responsibilities that needed to be done. The sky was dark, the street lights were on and there were few people out on the streets and the nearby businesses were either starting to close or were already closed.

As you wait for your confirmed ride share to arrive... you smell it. Citrus. But it was faint. Or rather, it was still strong but you could tell that whoever was close by wasn't an anomaly. Just someone who had been in their presence, like Frisk-

“hey there-” You jump and gasp at the sudden voice, grasping your purse and turning and taking a swing but when you did turn around you were suddenly frozen in place in your attack pose. You then stare in surprise as you see... Sans in front of you, hands up defensively and... looking surprised and nervous. He was... sweating? But what really caught your attention was that his left socket had a blazing blue eye light in it while his right one was void of any light. “wh-whoa there.” He says nervously. “didn't mean to scare ya miss.” You continue looking at him, surprised and confused, before scoffing at what he just said.

“Seriously?!” You practically squeak. “You can't just sneak up on a person and not expect them to initiate their fight or flight!” You sigh and go to move... only to realize you can't. What? You could barely move your head to see what was going on with you. You look back at Sans, he's looking at you a little skeptical, and see the blue orb in his socket disappear and white eye lights appear in both sockets. When that happened, you feel yourself get control over your body... _Did he just use magic on you?_ What else could explain it? Feeling a little giddy inside at the thought that you just experienced a type of monster magic, you remember it, the feeling it gave you, copy it, sending the information off to be added to your collection of known magic. Sans lets out a nervous chuckle, getting your attention.

“y-yeah. i'm sorry. i'm told that it's a bad habit of mine.” You rub your chest a little. Whatever kind of magic he used on you left some kind of residual pressure. You see him flinch. “a-ah uh... sorry about that too. uh... please don't report me. i just... really didn't want to get hit.” You sigh. Okay. In his defense he had a right to protect himself. You knew it was against the law for monsters to use their magic on other people without their permission unless it was in self defense.

“I won't.” You say. “You had a valid reason.” He sighs in relief and you look at him. “So what was that?” You ask, even if you kind of already knew the answer. He gives a nervous chuckle and brings out his hands from his jacket's pockets and... does a half-tempted 'jazz hands' gesture.

“magic.” You snicker at the motion and see him put his hands back in his pockets, looking just slightly relaxed.

“Snrk. Well obviously.” You say before... staring at him a little skeptically. What was he doing here? “So uh... what are you doing here?” You voice. “Haven't seen you or the other two in... almost a week.” It had been three days since you last saw the skeleton that looked like Papyrus. You learned from Frisk yesterday when you met with them that his name was Stretch and that his brother... was Blueberry. You couldn't help but laugh at how different the two were. You also learned from Frisk that Sans and Papyrus were brothers... Which made you come to a conclusion. The four did tend to look quite a like, yet obviously different. You would've found that to be a bit of a racist thought but your nose doesn't lie. You didn't even have to ask Frisk. You knew. Stretch and Blueberry were the anomalies. You would also say that Sans and Papyrus could've been as well but since Sans only smelled faintly of citrus, it wasn't possible. But no way were Stretch and Blueberry the only anomalies. Those two alone wouldn't be able to create such a strong smell.

“oh uh... w-well... we've been busy... and technically _we_ don't know each other.” He gestures to you and himself. Okay that was a fair enough reason. “also uh... we don't really live close to this part of the city.” You quirk a brow. _Didn't live close to this part of the city...? Then what was he doing here?_ You didn't know whether to count that as useful information or not though. Like he said, you two were strangers to each other. If he was lying he had a good enough reason to. But that still didn't explain why he was here. Frisk was nowhere to be seen and from what you recall, Sans was very cautious and skeptical of you at first meet. Even now he was being cautious of you... _Did he know something about you?_ No... That would be impossible... right? Frisk wouldn't have said anything. They seem keen on keeping promises and they promised you that they wouldn't tell anyone about what you were unless you gave the okay.

“I mean... fair I guess.” You say before narrowing your eyes in suspicion. “But... that doesn't explain why you're here.” You say cautiously, tensing and readying to defend yourself in case Sans tried to pull anything. He rubs the back of his neck and gives a nervous chuckle.

“heh... about that... ya see... i wanted to talk with ya if that's alright.” You narrow your eyes more, looking at him very skeptically and take a small step back. He wanted to talk to you... _but how did he know you would be here?_ You see his sockets widen, eye lights shrink, and his hands come defensively. “w-wait don't run-”

“How did you know I would be here?” You see him sweat.

“uh well... i remember your uniform and from frisk's slip of the tongue that day... figured you worked somewhere around here...” He trails off and you tense. Has he been following you? No... You would've noticed. You narrow your eyes more as you have a thought. _Stretch._ Even though that day just seemed ordinary, you couldn't help but feel that him showing up was odd, considering you've been searching this part of the city constantly before thinking of moving on to some other part.

“What do you want?” You say with some warning in your voice. “Because I'll tell you right now I won't hesitate to defend myself if you're some creep.” Sans... chuckles.

“i'm sure.” His voice changed. He no longer sounded nervous. He sounded... serious. His grin was tight and his sockets narrowed. “look, i'm just gonna get straight to the point 'kay?” He straightens up and what you see kind of frightens you. His eye lights were extinguished, his grin threatening, and even if he was only a little bit taller than you... he towered over you. “ _i don't want you hangin' around frisk anymore._ ” You blink, surprised. Not only because was his tone very threatening but... who the _HELL_ was he to say something like that to you?! He continues. “the last thing _i_ need is that kid gettin' hurt or worse by someone like _you_.” Okay, now you were offended! You narrow your eyes and scowl. This _bastard_ knew nothing about you! 

“What the _fuck_ does that mean, someone like me?!” You say angrily, practically squaring up to Sans. “You don't know shit about me! Who the _HELL_ do you think you are anyway, telling me who I can and can't see?!” You saw your outburst surprised him a little, making his eye lights return and take a small step back, _he almost looked a little scared_ , but then his face went serious again. But before he said anything you kept going. “And how _DARE_ you accuse me of wanting to hurt Frisk! I would never _ever_ bring them harm! They are the kindest and sweetest kid I have ever come to know!” He scoffs and rolls his eye lights before glaring at you.

“please. i know _exactly_ what i'm talking about. you may have the kid fooled but i _know_ what kind of person you are and what it is you're capable of.” You couldn't help but look slightly confused underneath your anger. What was he talking about? What did he mean? There's no way he knows what you are. He chuckles smugly. “i can see it all over your face. i'm right aren't i?” You glare. No. He was wrong. “well i'm gonna tell ya somethin' _buddy_.” He leans over you, sockets empty again and smile threatening. “if i ever find out that you have done any kind of harm to frisk, or even any harm to monsters...” You're taken by surprise as he actually grips the front of your shirt and brings you up close to him.

“ _ **y o u ' r e g o n n a h a v e a b a d t i m e.**_ ” Some part of you, deep within you, reacted defensively when his voice dropped significantly in tone, as it was the most threatening tone you have ever heard. Another part of you... wasn't going to take his shit. You glare and scowl at him, baring your teeth.

“Is that a _threat_?” His chuckle was deep and threatening.

“oh no... _that's a_ _ **promise**_.” You leer.

“Fuck you.” You shove him away and glare him down. “I don't care if you're Frisk's friend. If you ever threaten me or accuse me of something you don't know shit about one more time, so help me I'll-”

“you'll what?” He mocks. “tell the kid? report me to the authorities?” You glare.

“And if neither of those work I'll take care of you myself.”

The air was completely still. It was like there was no noise. Sans was stock still, his threatening face and posture not even wavering. You continued to glare-  _ You felt something heavy on your chest before taking a dive right onto the concrete, gasping in surprise. You didn't do that.  _ You tried to get up but couldn't. You were frozen again.

“awww. gee bud. that looked _painful_.” He mocked. You couldn't look up but you saw Sans was now standing in front of you. You mustered up as much strength as you could to look up at him only to glare. His left socket was now blazing blue. This bastard was using his magic on you.

“Let me go you bastard!” You struggle but can't seem to get free.

“i dunno what you're talkin' about.” He squats down and... offers a hand. “need a _hand_ gettin' up _buddy_?” You growl and before you could say anything you hear a car horn. Instantly that heaviness is gone and you get up as fast as you can, knocking Sans into the concrete during the process. You brush yourself off and glare at Sans as the car pulls over and you hear a nervous voice say,

“U-Um... Are you Y/n?” You let out huff, still glaring at Sans, who was practically glaring back at you, white eye lights in his sockets.

“Fuck you.” You say, pointing to him. “If I ever see you again it'll be too soon.” He scoffs.

“heh. same here.” You scowl before turning and entering the car of your ride share.

“U-Um...” Stutters the driver. Poor guy. He looked absolutely nervous. You wonder what all he saw before pulling up... You let out a sigh, calming yourself.

“Yes. I'm Y/n. Thank you for picking me up.” He gives a hesitant nod, looks past you, possibly at Sans, before driving off. You sink into the back seat and glance at the mirror on the passenger door only to stare, confused. Sans was no longer there... Whatever. Like you cared. You just wanted to get home.

***

The next day had come and it was your day off. There was something satisfying about not having to work on Mondays. You spent a handful of hours going to many of the libraries that were in Ebott City, asking if they had anything relating to monsters and whenever they said yes, you were disappointed that it wasn't as much as you thought. Just a tiny section. Sometimes not even a bookshelf full. After exiting the fifth library you found, you came to the conclusion that you would have to travel to Little Ebott and see if they had a library if you wanted to learn anything about the magic you copied from Sans. Ever since that asshole used his magic on you, you were hesitant to actually test it out yourself until you had a good understanding of what it is this power was capable of before turning it against him if he ever tried anything with you again.

Having called a ride share that was willing to travel south to Little Ebott, you couldn't help but be a little giddy. You've never actually been to Little Ebott yet, let alone Monster District. When you arrived in the monster majority town, you saw many more monster species you didn't recognize. You then stared in confusion as your ride share stopped in front of a small two-story building with a sign that said 'Little Ebott Librarby.'

“Libra... Librar...” You say, attempting to pronounce the word.

“It's pronounced 'Librarby.'” Your driver said with a chuckle. You look at her, confused.

“Is it a monster word?” She laughs.

“Pfft! N-No, no! Funny story actually! Apparently back when monsters were under the mountain someone misspelled 'library' on their sign and they just stuck with it ever since!” She snickers. “I think it's cute.” You giggle and smile, giving your thanks and exiting the car, staring at the small building in front of you. It was a little long in length sure but the height had you skeptical. There didn't seem to look like much of a second floor from the outside. Is everything there is to know about monsters in this library? Would they even have what you were looking for? You shook your head. You of all people should know that buildings look totally different on the inside despite the outside. 

You take a breath and step inside, the soft jingle of a bell alerting the quiet library of your presence. You look around. Straight in front is a counter with a green lizard-looking monster with glasses and some kind of female bird monster with glasses next to him, chatting quietly. The entire right side had bookshelves going across and near the walls in a neat line. You could see down the aisle that at the very end was a seating area. To the left were two flights of stairs, one set going up while the other was going down. You chuckle to yourself a little. Of course. A basement. There was probably more down there. You approach the counter, noticing that the two monsters were watching you as you looked around. You give them a smile.

“Hello.” You say.

“I've never seen you in here before.” The lizard monster says. You nod.

“Yeah I'm kinda new to Ebott.”

“Ooh how exciting!” The bird monster says. “And how are you enjoying the city?” You smile.

“It's been kind to me so far.”

“Good, good!”

“Can we help you with anything ma'am?” The lizard asks. “Most humans who come here aren't exactly here to check out and read the latest monster novels.” You flinch a little, feeling guilty. You rub your arm nervously only to stare as the bird monster hits the lizard monster behind the head.

“Monty don't be rude!” You give a nervous chuckle.

“U-Um, actually... He isn't wrong.” You say, getting their attention. “I um... I'm looking for some material regarding... monster magic.”

“You'll find that downstairs!” The bird monster says with a smile. You smile back and nod.

“Thank you very much.”

“You aren't planning on checking anything out are you?” 'Monty' questions with a quirked brow. “Because if you are, you're gonna have to sign up for a card, considering you're new.” Oh. That would make sense.

“Oh. Of course. May I do that now?”

“Absolutely! Just step on over here and I'll help you make one!”

***

There were definitely a lot more books in the basement, though you saw it was a mix between monster books and human books. After looking up and down many shelves, you found a few books that had something to do with monster magic and a few about souls, since you knew both were related to each other. Although... the 'books' you found on souls were more like journals, each having only a few pages in them. You sat down and decided to start with those. One of the books talked about monster funerals, though... it looked like it was written by kid- No wait. It was. You saw in the corner of the first page the grade it received. You chuckled and moved on to the next book.

It talked about how intent was everything to a monster. It determined how much damage a monster received or put out. If a monster didn't want to fight but the opposing did, the monster would be harmed severely... or even killed. You stare. Intent. Intentions. If a human had the intention to kill a monster... there was a chance they could do it in just one hit... However... you found that good intentions, like love and kindness, could also be felt by a monster. These positive intentions did no harm. Well... that was good at least. You look at another book that talked about the physical make-up differences between humans and monsters. Monsters were made of mostly magic. Well, you knew that. A monster's soul though was comprised of love, hope and compassion. You smile a little. You knew monsters were kind and sweet beings and this book proved it. You continue.

Their physical forms were determined not only by the parents, but the kind of personality the soul exhibits when conceived. You blink. From the moment of conception, a soul could already have a personality? Huh... You then had a thought. If monsters were mostly magic and not organic like humans... how were they born? You tried looking for that kind of information but found nothing, just that souls were important to monsters and were considered very private and that growing monsters should consult with their parents on the matter of how important souls really were. Hmm...

You then learn that souls have color, though humans have more of a variety. The colors supposedly matched to a certain trait or characteristic. Red stood for 'determination,' orange stood for 'bravery,' yellow stood for 'justice,' green stood for 'kindness,' light blue stood for 'patience,' blue stood for 'integrity,' and purple stood for 'perseverance.' You wondered what color your soul was. Maybe red? You could be very determined. Or maybe green? You were very kind. You then read that all monsters have white souls, though you don't find the reason why or what white stands for.

You look over the books in case you missed something before moving on to the books about monster magic. You found that there were actually many types of magic.

“' _All monsters can learn the basic magic colors with enough practice and integrate it into their own unique battle style in anyway they want.'”_ You read quietly aloud. _“'Magic comes from the soul, which is the very culmination of a monster's being, and most magic can affect other's souls. Each individual species of monsters have their own unique type of magic. For example, the monster species 'Whimsum' can create attacks that look just like butterflies while the monster species 'Vegetoid' can create attacks that look like your everyday vegetable. However, both can integrate GREEN magic into their attacks, which changes the structure of an attack. Instead of causing damage, the green-colored attack will be able to heal._ '”

You give a hum. You've heard a little about green magic in your time working at the cafe. It's what monster food was made of and apparently it could come in a purchasable solid and liquid form in stores for humans who wanted to make monster food, since they couldn't exactly perform magic. You also learned that it's the magic in monster food that keeps the food from spoiling. What you just couldn't comprehend was how green magic had a physical form. After all, it was magic. It doesn't stick around long, at least... from your experience. You flipped through another book and found that one of them in the beginning gave a brief summary about the basic magic colors before going into more detail later in the book. You look over the summary list.

_All basic colored magic can be used inside and outside of an encounter. An encounter is just another term for a fight. Below is a quick summary of the basic colors of magic. Do note that monsters cannot use their own magic on themselves._

**RED Magic** \-  _ Not much is known about this color magic! Some speculate it once had the ability to manipulate time, but no one knows for sure as no monsters of today have ever exhibited this basic color! _

**ORANGE Magic** \-  _ Does not affect the soul. Is associated in battles as the type of magic one would need to constantly move about if one does not want to take damage in an encounter. Most learn this magic to speed up a battle and test the opposing's bravery. It's counter-part is LIGHT BLUE magic. _

**YELLOW Magic** \-  _ Does affect the soul. Is associated with sharp-shooting and targeting. When a soul/attack is yellow, it can only be directed in one direction, which is usually forward. _

**GREEN Magic** \-  _ Does affect the soul. Is associated with healing and defense. When an attack is green, it has the ability to heal instead of harm. It's maximum healing potential can only be reached if one exhibits enough positivity. When a soul is green, it keeps the opposing in place and creates a shield around the soul, to which the barer must control to avoid being hit. _

**LIGHT BLUE Magic** \-  _ Does not affect the soul. Is associated in battles as the type of magic where one would have to stay completely still, lest one would take damage when in an encounter. Most learn this magic to slow down a battle and test the opposing's patience. Is the counter-part of Orange magic. _

**BLUE Magic** \-  _ Does affect the soul. Is associated with gravity and affects souls specifically. It can make the opposing feel extremely heavy and slow their movements and can also control a person's movement and make them feel either heavy or weightless. _

**PURPLE Magic** \-  _ Does affect the soul. Is associated with patterns. When a soul/attack is purple, it can only move/attack in fixed patterns set by the attacker. _

You stare. BLUE magic... You stared at that one longer than the others. That had to be what Sans used on you. Not only were you frozen in place but you dropped to the ground against your will and couldn't move... And now you had that power. You could now control souls... You frown. That was a bit of a disturbing and haunting thought. Control souls. Control the very being of a person, control their actions, their movements... And monsters had the capability to do so... Part of you could understand the human's fear of monsters in the past... and in the present. You shook your head. No. Monsters were very kind beings. All they wanted was peace. Souls were important to them. There was no way they would do something like that... right?

You looked quizzically at the word 'encounter' though. Why was it called an encounter and not just a fight? As you read another book, you found out what an encounter really was. An encounter was more than just a fight. It was actually a small, magical field or barrier created by monsters to prevent stray attacks from damaging their surroundings. An encounter was used as a way to check ones 'stats' and train one's attacks to become stronger and up their defenses so they could take more hits... or to just have an actual fight. You read that one of two things could happen if an encounter was used just to determine the outcome of a fight; those in the fight could do just that, fight, until they either call mercy... or die... or, they could try and come to a middle ground through conversation and all sides call mercy.

You also read something that didn't sit well with you. When a monster kills another monster, their LV increases. LV was short for LOVE. LOVE was an acronym... It stood for Level Of ViolencE. The more LOVE a monster had in their soul... the more likely they were to cause harm. The more they harm, the less they feel emotions... You wondered if humans were the same way... You wonder... what your LV was... No. It couldn't be that high... right? After all, you could feel your emotions clear as day... right? Right...

Deciding you've read enough and had gotten more information than what you were looking for, you close the books and place them back before heading back up to the main floor. The bird monster, you learned her name was Del, looked at you with a smile.

“Oh! Hello there! Did you find what you were looking for? You were down there for quite awhile.” You nod with a smile. You didn't realize it until you looked at the clock on the wall but you were in the basement reading for at least an hour and a half.

“I did. Thank you very much for directing me to the right area.” She smiles.

“Not a problem sweetie!”

“So does this mean we won't see you again now that you have your information?” Monty asks with a skeptically raised brow. Del hits Monty again with her wing with an agitated look on her face.

“Be nice.”

“Actually um,” You say, getting their attention. “I do plan on coming back whenever I have the free time.” You weren't lying. You only looked up monster magic and their souls. There was still their history you had to look into not to mention their customs and other things.

“Oh don't pay attention to him. You're always welcome here!” You smile.

“Thank you. Well, I should get going. It was nice meeting you two.” You wave goodbye and head out the doors. It was well past lunch time. You decided that you'd find some place close by to eat at before calling a ride share back to Ebott. Not only that, but maybe explore the monster town a bit. Might as well since you were there right? Though... It would help if you knew where you were... You head back into the library, getting confused looks from Monty and Del. You give a nervous chuckle.

“Any chance you guys have a map of town or something? I... don't know my way around.”

***

After finding a cute little restaurant and eating lunch you set out to explore the section of Little Ebott you were in. It was a very nice mix of suburban and rural. Lots of homes. You figured that Little Ebott was like actual Ebott City, where more of the businesses for monsters were towards the center. Getting tired and figuring it was time to head home, you start looking for a ride share... Until you smelled citrus. And it was strong. Nothing about it was faded.  _ There was more than one. _ From the heaviness of it... there had to be at least three. You back out of the app and continue to keep walking. You would've turned around to try and find them... but you didn't want to take any chances that whoever you were smelling were the dangerous anomalies Frisk had mentioned to you-  _ It was getting stronger... They were getting closer... Were they following you? No. Why would they? They had no idea who you were... right? _

_ Unless they did. _ You confirmed yourself that Sans was somehow tied to the anomalies like Frisk, based on the fact he smelled of citrus, and considering that bastard threatened you last night to back away from Frisk after you got off work... Did...  _ Did he send the dangerous anomalies after you...? _ No... He couldn't have. He had no proof of what you looked like...  _ right? _ You don't recall ever seeing him with a phone or camera out...  _ unless he was following you. _ He was skeptical of you... wary of you... He threatened you for God's sake because he somehow, in that small amount of time you've talked to him the first time you met him, found you dangerous.

You had come to a stop at an intersection. Great. You had to wait for the light to change... and you could smell the anomalies getting closer... Maybe you were just being paranoid. Maybe these anomalies following you weren't really following you. It could just be coincidence that they were out and about. After all, you only just started to smell them and this was a monster city. You would've noticed if they were following you from the very beginning-  _ You suddenly get pushed forward. _ Well... it was more like a nudge... but that didn't change the fact that you were now full-on smelling citrus. It just... got closer somehow. And then you hear a voice. A really... gruff voice.

“sh-shit. uh, sorry 'bout dat doll.” You turned around. _You didn't mean to. It was just an instinct for you to turn and tell the stranger who bumped you and apologized that he was fine and that it didn't bother you._ You couldn't help but stare as the first thing you noticed was a grin full of sharp, shark-like teeth... and one of those teeth were golden and sharp like the rest. Your eyes slowly look at the face that was attached to that grin. A skeleton. _Another skeleton._ And he was taller than you but not by much, kinda like Sans. Only, unlike Sans, this skeleton was wide... or maybe it was his clothes that made him look wide...? _Were all the anomalies you were looking for skeletons?_ He looked down at you with red eye lights in his sockets and an amused grin on his face. You couldn't help but take quick notice of his clothes; black parka with a fuzzy hood that seemed a little big on him, a red turtleneck underneath, black jean shorts and red and white sneakers... _whose laces were lazily tucked into the sides... like Sans..._

“wassa matta doll?” He says, getting your attention. “ya act like ya ain't ever seen a monster before.” You flinched. Part of you wondered if you offended him by staring but... his face was relaxed. He didn't look offended in the slightest. In fact... he looked curious. You give a nervous chuckle.

“A-Ah, no uh... I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare it's just... Heh... You give off... quite the first impression.” He chuckles again, eye lights not leaving yours. You then noticed that... like Sans and Stretch... this skeleton looked tired.

“so 'm told.” He says... still looking at you. You decide to turn back around and not give him any more of your attention, anxiously waiting for the light to change so that you could get away from him as far as possible because you knew he wasn't alone. Your nose never lies. This skeleton and whoever else was following you was obviously connected to Sans in some way. You see the signal change and instantly you pushed through the crowd, trying to get across the street as fast as possible. You had to think and act fast. How would you lose your stalkers? If you ran you were pretty sure they'd run after you... And you couldn't exactly hide. You were a human amidst so many monsters right now. You'd stick out. You look around, trying to think of some way to lose them... _when suddenly you feel a kind of weight on your chest and your body starts to move on its own._

You tried struggling against it but it was no use. Someone was using BLUE magic on you. It had to be BLUE magic. You literally just read up on magic not that long ago. Everything matched. Your body turns and starts going down a nearby alley, going pretty much all the way to the dead end. And then, when you reached it, the weight was gone. You could move again. You instantly turned and stared as there were four... skeletons looking at you; two of them were tall, like Papyrus and Stretch, and the other two were short, like Sans and Blueberry. Only... they dressed very differently. Very... edgy? Dark colors mostly. You already recognize the skeleton who ran into you but the other three? They looked serious. Very serious. And angry...  _ And dangerous. _

One of the taller ones had a gold tooth amongst his fangs like the shorter skeleton did and he was looking at you skeptically and cautiously. The other tall one looked like he had a permanent scowl on his, also fanged, face. He had cracks going over his left socket, looking like he's been in one hell of a fight. And then the other short one... His teeth looked even sharper than the other skeleton if that was possible, and he also had cracks going over his left socket. His eye lights though... they were white... and they were glaring right at you. No doubt about it. They knew who you were somehow. Your nose was burning. Four of them. Four anomalies. All monsters. You start to panic a little, eyes darting between each skeleton. You don't think you'd be able to handle all of them-

“whoa, whoa. easy there dollface.” Says the skeleton you met. You look at him. His hands were up and out of his parka's pockets and he had an easy grin on his face. “we ain't gonna hurt ya.” You narrow your eyes, looking at all them suspiciously.

“... I highly doubt that.” You say, trying to keep eye contact with all of them. “I take it that bastard skeleton Sans told you about me huh? Sent you to 'get his message across?'” The skeleton chuckles, sounding amused, and shakes his head.

“nah sweet-cheeks. ya got it all wrong. dat bonehead doesn't even know we're here.” You see his grin... drop some. “we just wanna talk wit' chu is all.” You back up some, glaring at the four now.

“Oh, yeah, because dragging me into a dead end alley and ganging up on me totally isn't suspicious behavior.” You... see him sweat red? And he darts his eye lights off to the side nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.

“i-i mean... 's not like i wanted ta do that.” He looked back at you. “the moment the light changed ya ran off 'fore i could even say anythin' ta ya.” You feel... a little guilty... but you keep your glare and narrowed eyes focused on the four.

“... Alright. Fine. You want to talk, then start talking.” You bare your teeth. “But I'm warning you right now that if any of you try anything funny-”

“god damn, just relax okay?” He says, annoyed. Oh _he_ was annoyed?! He sighs and takes a step forward, to which you step back. He noticed and stopped progressing. “a'ight look lady. 'm gonna get to the point. we heard from 'sans' 'bout chu. how yer supposedly 'dangerous'-” He put up physical air quotes. “or whateva and how he's fearin' for his life and the kid's. i jus' wanted ta see fer m'self what exactly has him and these yahoos so scared.” He gestures to the other shorter one and the tall one with the golden fang. You then flinch when the other shorter one spoke. His voice was loud like Blueberry and Papyrus'... but it was no where near energetic. It was demanding. Pretty much yelling.

“WE TOLD YOU WHAT WE SAW!” He said, glaring at the other one. “MAYBE IF YOU ACTUALLY CHECKED THE HUMAN LIKE WE TOLD YOU, YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND!” You stare, a little confused. Checked? You then flinch when he glared back at you, pointing at you. “HUMAN! DO NOT THINK FOR ONE SECOND YOU HAVE US FOOLED! WE KNOW WHAT IS YOU ARE REALLY CAPABLE OF FOR WE HAVE CHECKED YOUR STATS!” What? Stats...? _Like what you read about? Could... Could these skeletons see the amount of LOVE you had?_

“I don't know what you're talking about.” You say cautiously. On hand, it was the truth. You honestly had no idea what they were really talking about. On the other hand... well... you already had your hunch.

“ya see lil darlin',” Says the tall skeleton with the gold tooth. “everyone has stats. ya got yer attack, yer defense, yer hp... yer _love_.” You stiffen. “and we know that humans can't exactly see their own stats but... well... let's just say _we_ can see 'em darlin'... and they ain't good numbers. so surely you can understand our behavior. we just can't take any chances with ya right now, especially since the boss man has it out for ya.” You stare at them, unsure of what to do.

“... How?” You ask. “How can you see them? I thought they could only be seen during an encounter.”

“THAT IS WHERE YOU ARE VERY WRONG _HUMAN_.” Says the other tall one with a scowl. The one you met sighs.

“i-it's complicated to explain but... yeah, most of us can see 'em.” You continue to stare.

“... So... Is that it? Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?”

“look doll, ya gotta understand... if what they say is true about yer stats... ya gotta admit, it makes ya look really suspicious hangin' out with the ambassador ta all of monster kind.” You glare, offended. Once again, you were being accused.

“How _dare_ you.” You growl. “How dare any of you think that I would ever hurt Frisk! All of you are just accusing me of being this dangerous person when you don't know anything about me! You have no proof to show me that I am someone dangerous!”

“YOU WANT PROOF?” The tall skeleton says. “FINE! WE'LL SHOW YOU PROOF!” You see the one you met turn to look at the skeleton, sockets wide and looking nervous.

“w-wait boss that ain't-!” You watch as you feel a sudden pull on your chest and then suddenly everything around you goes black and white. Everything lost it's color; the walls, the concrete, the skeletons... You go to look at yourself only to stop and stare... at a small yellow heart floating in front of you. _Was that...?_ You look up as you hear the other short one give a surprised scoff, as if offended by the sight of the heart.

“JUSTICE?! SOMEONE WITH JUSTICE HAS STATS THAT HIGH?!” You would've said something... if something else didn't catch your eye. Above each of the skeletons... was a piece of text? You didn't see any sign of a heart like yours in front of them though.

**PAPYRUS 'EDGE'** \-  **LV:** 10  **AT:** 32  **DF:** 20

**SANS 'RED'** \- **LV: 5** **AT:** 23 **DF:** 15

 **PAPYRUS 'MUTT'** \- **LV: 8** **AT:** 25 **DF:** 14

 **SANS 'BLACKBERRY'** \- **LV: 12** **AT:** 35 **DF:** 15

**THEY DON'T TRUST YOU.**

**SANS 'RED' DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK.**

You stare. You stare and stare and keep on staring until it all clicks together. These guys weren't just any anomalies... they were each other just... different versions of themselves. They were... Sans and Papyrus... And that explained it. Stretch and Blueberry... They were Papyrus and Sans too... Alternate versions... all more than likely coming from some alternate universe... But then... what brought them all here at the exact same time?

“n-no way...” You hear 'Red' say. You look back at him and see he's sweating, sockets wide and looking at you in disbelief. You noticed that 'Edge' was looking rather uncomfortable but was trying his best to look as tough as possible. “that's... that's not possible...” What wasn't possible? What was he seeing on you? You look down at your soul and you look all around you. You don't see any kind of text around you. Why couldn't you see your own stats?

“I SAY WE BRING IT BACK TO THE HOUSE FOR INTERROGATION!” 'Edge' decrees. “WE OBVIOUSLY CANNOT LET A HUMAN THIS DANGEROUS CONTINUE TO WALK AROUND FREELY!”

“AGREED!” 'Blackberry' said. You see Red look at both of then, anxious.

“wh-whoa, whoa! calm down! we can't jus' do that! and boss! c'mon, drop the encounter! if she checks us then-!”

“OH CALM DOWN! THE ONLY WAY THE HUMAN CAN DO THAT IS ON ITS TURN! AND IT IS NOT ITS TURN.” What? Turn?

“th-then whose turn is it?”

“'s mine.” 'Mutt' says with a shrug. Red whips his skull around, looking at Mutt.

“end it. end the encounter now.” Mutt shrugs again and then suddenly, color returns all around you and your little yellow heart, your soul, was nowhere to be seen. Still a little mesmerized by what just happened, you failed to notice Edge marching up to you until he reached out and yanked you forward by your arm, which he put in a death grip. You let out a yelp of pain. “b-boss! be careful wit' 'er!” Red says anxiously.

“PFEH! WHY ARE YOU SO CONCERNED?! IT MAY BE DANGEROUS BUT IT'S STILL A HUMAN-!” Something in you clicked. You couldn't place it, but the next thing you knew, all four skeletons went slamming into the wall the moment you waved your non-captured arm. You stare as they all stared in surprise and struggled against some kind of invisible force. That's when you realized you used BLUE magic against them. You kept them, their souls, pinned to the wall.

“WH-WHAT IS THIS?!” Edge exclaims angrily. “I CAN'T MOVE!”

“i-i think... the human's using magic on us.” Mutt says.

“IMPOSSIBLE!”

“HUMAN!” Blackberry scowls. “I DEMAND YOU RELEASE US AT ONCE!” _Yeah right._

“h-how the hell does a human know how ta use magic anyway?” Red says. As they struggled you kept your arm extended as you walked slowly past them, keeping your gaze on them. Red looks at you anxiously. “w-wait don't go!” You didn't listen. When you reached the end of the alley you dropped your arm and ran as fast as you could, hearing their curses and threats. You didn't know if you released them or not, but all that mattered was that you got as far away as possib- _You gasp as Mutt is suddenly in front of you and you run right into him, to which he grabs you and holds you practically in a vice grip._

“heh. that was a pretty neat trick there darlin'.” He says with a smirk as you struggle against him. He then chuckles and gets a little too close to your face. “ _wanna see what i can do?_ ” You go to growl and snap at him but you lose your breath as you suddenly find yourself weightless, falling almost, if it wasn't for the fact Mutt was holding you, and somewhere cold and... somewhere really dark. It was like it lasted forever until your eyes were assaulted by a bright light... and it was like your nose was on fire. The scent of citrus was SO strong. You felt dizzy, sick. You were let go but you dropped to the ground, landing on your back. You groan.

“oops.” You hear Mutt say, though you didn't actually hear any kind of guilt coming from it. You blink open your eyes to adjust to the suddenly light only to stare at your surroundings. Y _ou were no longer on the street. You were in a room. You were in a house._ You quickly sit up only to stare. The four skeletons are now in front of you, looming over you, staring at you. _What just happened to you? Were you just... teleported?_

“GOOD JOB MUTT.” Blackberry says, looking at you with a sharp and devious grin.

“PFEH! PLEASE!” Edge says, crossing his arms and rolling his sockets. “THIS IS FAR FROM 'A GOOD JOB!' WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE DONE WAS TAKEN IT TO THE SHED, NOT THE STUDY!” Study? You slightly look around, keeping all four skeletons within eyesight. There were two couches, some chairs, a coffee table, some desks with wheeled chairs, bookshelves full of some kind of literature. But what really surprised you was the size of the room. It was big. Spacious... _You see in the reflection of the window behind them that there was a hallway behind you._

“guys we shouldn't have done this.” Red says nervously, getting your attention and the other skeletons. “this is basically kidnapping. we can't let classic know-”

“CLASSIC ISN'T GOING TO FIND OUT!” Blackberry says.

“he will if ya keep yellin' at the top o' ya lungs!” This was it. While they were distracted. You felt the familiar power of the BLUE magic run through you and, locking on to all four of them, you waved an arm and watched as they went flying back, crashing into the wall and bookshelves, making a lot of noise. If your nose wasn't lying to you, which you knew it wasn't, then this place was were all the anomalies were hiding. You had to get out of here fast. You scramble to your feet as the four are in a slight daze and you run out of the room you're in, down the hallway... and you freeze. You've entered a really nice looking living room but what caught your attention... was seeing Blueberry and Stretch sitting on one of the couches... and they were staring back at you in complete shock and confusion.

“uhhh...” Stretch drawls out. “what are you-?” You suddenly get slammed to the floor by a heavy invisible force. No. By BLUE magic. You struggle. You can't move anything.

“OH MY GOODNESS!” You hear Blueberry gasp and exclaim in a panic. As you hear him and Stretch stand from their seat, you also hear hurried footsteps come running down the hall.

“WE'VE GOT YOU NOW YOU-!” You hear Edge say as he nears only to stop behind you.

“shit...” You hear Red mumble nervously.

“ _guys_.” You hear Stretch say in a warning tone. “ _what. did. you. do?_ ” You hear him approach. You then suddenly see light blue boots in your vision before getting lifted up by Blueberry, your arm going over his shoulder and him holding you up with an arm around your waist. You still can't move but you can somewhat see his face. He's looking at you completely worried.

“H-HEY ARE YOU OKAY?” He asks before looking at the four skeletons that were pursing you. You could just barely see them if you looked forward. “LET GO OF HER YOU GUYS!” 

“NOT A CHANCE!” Blackberry scowls. “THIS WRETCHED CREATURE ATTACKED US!”

“oh really? she just _attacked_ you?” Stretch asks, skeptical. “none of you did anything to provoke her?” You heard angry grumbles from Edge and Blackberry as they glare at Stretch. “whoever has a hold on her, release her.” There was silence for a moment before you heard Blackberry scoff.

“IF WE ALL DUST JUST KNOW THAT IT'LL BE YOUR FAULT.” He says before snapping his fingers. “RELEASE THE HUMAN MUTT.” Immediately you could feel the heaviness lifting off your body... and your instincts kicked in. You shoved away from Blueberry, causing him to fall back and let out a yelp of surprise, and you make a run for what you could only assume was the front door. You were in a living room after all. However, you ran into something orange. You fall back to the floor and stare up in confusion only to see Stretch looking down at you, a little nervous. You scramble to your feet and back away, keeping your eyes on him- _But what about the others?_ You quickly twist your body and see the five are still in their places; Blackberry and Edge leering at you with a scowl, Mutt just staring, Red looking... nervous... and Blueberry looking extremely concerned and nervous. He was also now on his feet.

“hold up there hun.” You snap your head back to Stretch and he quickly brings up his hands in surrender. “we ain't gonna hurt ya.” You scoff.

“Yeah. Sure. That's what they said.” You gesture to skeletons behind you. You see Stretch look behind you with a semi-glare before back at you.

“did they hurt you?” He asks a little nervous.

“... Not yet. But they did talk about torturing me.” He sighs heavily, you can hear his agitation, and he lowers his hands. “... What's going on? Where am I?” He sighs again, running a hand over his skull.

“well-”

“ _what the_ _ **fuck**_ _is going on in here?_ ” Your eyes widen and you slowly turn towards the direction of the angry and... threatening voice. There... standing at the bottom of a flight of stairs... was Sans. _And he did not look happy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on tumblr if you want. I've been posting mostly status and story updates.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mixing-up-details)


	4. Chapter 4: Skeletal POV PT 1: The Incident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got two new chapters ready for all of you and they're both from Sans' POV! I hope you enjoy! Also, thank you everyone for the comments! I'm sorry I never got to reply but I did read all of them and they all make me feel so happy! Thank you!

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Party poppers popped. Tweeters whistled. Fireworks were going off in the night sky. People and monsters cheered and clapped loudly, hugging each other and smiling wide. They would clink their glasses together and chug down whatever was in them. Another year had passed. Sans couldn't believe it. Monsters have been free and on the surface for three years now. He honestly didn't think the timeline would make it this far. He was so sure that after the first year had passed Frisk would RESET and send everyone back under the mountain, back to the underground, back to that hell, so that they could play their 'game' once more. 

_No that never happened. Those timelines never happened. Frisk had never RESET once in this timeline. All those 'memories' were just in his head. Frisk never killed anyone. Never killed him. Never toyed with him. But why could he remember them like they actually happened? They never happened!_

During the path towards the second year he got even more paranoid, even after he voiced his concerns to the human, who promised him that they would never, ever RESET.

_How did he know if they were telling the truth? The path monsters were taking to earn their way back into civilization was a violent one. There we so many riots. So many protests. Monsters were even dusted for God's sake. That reason alone could've given Frisk an excuse to RESET... But they never did. It wasn't that they were heartless. No. The kid was nothing but heart. But even Sans had to agree with them that even if they did RESET there would be no end to the violence in the beginning. No progress would've been made between monsters and humans if they kept RESETTING after every death of a monster. They wanted there to be peace and happiness for all of monster and human kind and in order to for that to happen... they had to let things happen naturally. Unfortunately some of those things weren't exactly... favorable._

He just couldn't stop being paranoid though. He checked that... wretched machine religiously; waiting, watching, searching for any sign that kid didn't keep their promise and had indeed RESET between the time they fell into the underground to every day he's been on the surface. But they never did. Sans had never once relived any day while on the surface. When the New Year was coming around once again, Sans had actually come to terms that Frisk really was telling the truth, that they were keeping their promise. He figured he could finally start to enjoy his new life on the surface, and boy did he miss a lot when he was lost in his constant paranoia.

“So what are your New Years resolutions Papyrus?” Sans blinked back into reality after hearing Toriel's voice, realizing that he was just staring up at the night sky blankly. The fireworks had stopped. He quickly recalled where exactly it was he was. Right. He was in Monster District's large grassy park with everyone.

“NYEH HEH HEH! MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION FOR THIS YEAR IS TO FINALLY GET THAT PROMOTION!” He hears Papyrus say boastfully. “I JUST KNOW IT! THIS WILL BE THE YEAR!” Sans smiles at his brother as Toriel giggles. Papyrus was currently working in a restaurant in the city. It was nice enough... and some of his co-workers were nice to him. Papyrus was trying his hardest to become a chef at the restaurant. He was currently working as a dish washer.

In the beginning Sans was paranoid about Papyrus' co-workers, since Papyrus got the job a little after monsters were given the 'okay' to work along side humans. There were a lot of dangerous equipment and utensils in a restaurant. And the humans? A lot of them were afraid of monster kind, hated them. They could hurt Papyrus. Sans had even tried convincing Papyrus to wait until monsters were more accepted by the humans before working, they had enough money to support themselves for a long time that they didn't even need jobs, but Papyrus wanted to leave his impression right then and there. So, reluctantly, Sans let Papyrus get the job.

“Surely that can't be your only goal.” Toriel questions.

“OF COURSE NOT. I HAVE MANY MORE RESOLUTIONS THAT I WISH TO FULFILL!” Toriel giggles and looks at Sans.

“And what of you Sans? Any resolutions for this year?” He chuckles and shrugs.

“eh, you know. same stuff basically. live my best life and all that...” He pauses as he goes into thought. He really did want to live his best life. He didn't want to keep worrying, to keep waking up and thinking that he was back underground, to keep putting on a facade to everyone around him, _to no longer be so paranoid_... And one of the things that was causing his paranoia was that stupid machine, checking it almost every day, waiting for something that was never going to come... He should destroy it. Take it apart and sell its pieces to many separate individuals so that it could never be reassembled. “... maybe finally sell and get rid of some of my old stuff from back in the underground.”

“That sounds like a very nice resolution.” Toriel says with a smile. “Let me know what you are getting rid of? I know it may seem silly since we are on the surface but... I like having some things that came from the underground.” He chuckles and nods.

“sure thing tori.” Not. No offense to Toriel but the only thing he was getting rid of was that machine and he didn't want any of it's pieces anywhere near this city.

***

He flicked on the light to the basement. It flickered a few times before revealing the half-finished room. Huh. He would have to ask Papyrus to change the light later. On his right upon entering was the hot water tank tucked away in corner, a washer and dryer set and some small shelves on the wall. On the left though... On the left were a few scattered boxes here and there that were still packed up with items,  _ -his items mostly. He would've taken care of them if it wasn't for the fact he was in the constant mindset of 'what would be the point? everything would just reset anyway' _ -, a work bench with some tools and toolboxes on it as well as some rolled up blueprints and other types of paper,  _ he would have to burn the ones relating to the machine _ ... and the machine itself, tucked in a corner, along with a chair.

“SANS ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GET RID OF YOUR MACHINE?” Papyrus asked a little confused and concerned. He and Frisk were behind him as he approached the machine. He had asked them for help in dismantling it, since if he tried to do it himself, chances were he'd never go through with it. “I MEAN I MAY NOT KNOW WHAT IT DOES, _YOU WOULD NEVER TELL ME_ , BUT YOU WERE ALWAYS SO PROTECTIVE OF IT.” Sans stares at the machine for a moment, recalling all the restless nights he spent in front of it just... waiting for it to give him something, _anything_. He sighs and nods as he turns on the machine, the quiet hum and whirring filling the silence of the basement, the screens on it humming to life. He had to make sure that he wiped its memory clean before dismantling it.

“yeah... i'm sure pap.” He never told Papyrus what his machine did, mostly because chances were Papyrus wouldn't understand or would just one day forget if everything did ever reset. As for Frisk though... they knew about the machine but not about what it did. Sans never indulged them with that information and never plans to. He starts typing away on the provided keyboard. The machine wasn't like any old computer. There was so much more to it. Doing a complete memory wipe was going to take time, considering the thing was old and tracked many anomalies in its time. He feels the body heat of Frisk as they stand next to him, watching him curiously.

“So...” They start, staring at the screens in utter confusion. “Since you're taking this thing apart-”

“no i'm not gonna tell ya what it does.” He interrupts. He sees and hears Frisk pout a little and he chuckles, shaking his head and rolling his eye lights. “look kid just... trust me when i say that it's safer for everybody if i'm the only person who knows what this machine does.” They look at him curiously before looking towards the work bench. Sans knew what was going through their head and he wasn't worried. The kid wouldn't be able to read any of it, that much was certain. He chuckles. “you can try looking through that mess but you won't get anywhere.” They leave his side and head over to the bench. He watches them, seeing that Papyrus was organizing the contents of the work bench. He knew he didn't have to worry about Papyrus learning either. Papyrus would never be able to make sense of any of it anyway.

“I HAVE TO SAY SANS I'M VERY IMPRESSED WITH YOU!” Papyrus says while stacking print-outs of data sheets that made sense to only Sans. He looks over at his brother curiously.

“oh yeah? how so?”

“WHY, YOU HAVE TAKEN INSTANT INITIATIVE! IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS SINCE YOU'VE MADE YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTION AND ALREADY YOU ARE WORKING TOWARDS IT! NORMALLY YOU DON'T DO ANYTHING TO REACH YOUR RESOLUTIONS, WHICH IS TO SAY YOU NEVER MADE ANY IN THE PAST YEARS.” Sans chuckles nervously, returning his attention to the screen.

“well uh... guess you could say this was uh... a late christmas miracle huh?”

“BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!” _Yeah..._

_tiptiptip clackclack taptaptap_

“SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING ANYWAY? I THOUGHT YOU WANTED US TO START TAKING IT APART.”

“i do pap i just... gotta wipe the memory on this thing first. i mean... sure i could just destroy the memory chip but... it's still in pretty good condition, i think... _maybe_. anyway, a memory chip can actually go for quite a bit of money, especially one that holds a lot of bytes.”

“I DIDN'T KNOW COMPUTER CHIPS COULD BITE!” Sans stops and snickers, idea running through his skull. Bless his brother.

“oh yeah. gotta be real careful with 'em. they really like to _nibble._ ” Frisk snickers and Sans chuckles as he sees Papyrus narrow his sockets at him in suspicion.

“... WAS THAT A PUN?” He snickers.

“i'm just sayin' bro, they _giga-lotta-bytes._ ”

“NYEEEEH!” Papyrus stomps. “I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WORSE! THE PUNS OR THE FACT THAT I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!” Sans laughs a little before returning to the machine as Frisk tries to explain to Papyrus what a 'byte' was. He sighs heavily at the little progress he's made. He barely made a dent. There was so much data.

“great...” He mumbles. He then flinches only to nervously chuckle as Frisk touched his arm.

“You okay Sans?” They ask.

“yeah...” He looks back at the screens. “there's... a lot more data than i thought... this might actually... take awhile.”

“How long are we talking?”

“honestly...? uh... maybe a few days. sorry to call you all the way here for nothing.” Frisk shakes their head and smiles.

“It's fine. It just means I get to hang out with you guys for the rest of the day then.” Sans gives another nervous chuckle.

“uhh... 'bout that... 'm gonna have to stay here and monitor it all, just to make sure nothin' is missed. so uh... you'll be spendin' the day with paps mostly.” He looks at the two. “why don't you guys just head back upstairs? enjoy the day, yeah?”

“ARE YOU SURE?” Papyrus asks. Sans nods.

“yep. 'hundred percent bro. you and frisk could like... i dunno... have a movie marathon or somethin'.”

“WELL... ALRIGHT. JUST PROMISE ME YOU'LL TAKE BREAKS AWAY FROM THOSE SCREENS. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY, STARING AT A SCREEN ALL DAY CAN WORSEN YOUR EYESIGHT.” Sans chuckles.

“kinda hard to worsen my eyes when i don't have any.”

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!” He chuckles again.

“yeah yeah, alright. i'll take breaks. good thing i'm already excellent at doing those.”

“I'LL SAY. COME FRISK! WE SHALL HAVE A FUN AND GRAND TIME UPSTAIRS!” Papyrus walks up the stairs, out of the basement, and Frisk is looking at Sans worriedly. He chuckles again.

“eh, don't worry about me.” He digs out his phone from his short's pocket and waves it a little. “got me some entertainment right here.”

“You'll let us know if you need anything right?”

“yep.” Frisk gives a hesitant nod before exiting the basement. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he sighed heavily. “oh boy...”

***

“Knock knock.”

“who's there?” It was practically instinct. Sans had been manually going through everything on the machine for a handful of hours now. He had no idea how much time had passed until he heard Frisk's voice. He checked his phone. '5:16pm' it read. He hears Frisk approaching from behind, letting out a thoughtful hum, which obviously meant they were trying to think of a good comeback.

“I.”

“i who?” Frisk snickers.

“I didn't know you were an owl.” Sans chuckles and turns to Frisk.

“not bad, but could be better.” They shrug and Sans stretches in his seat. “so what's up kid?” He was actually surprised to see Frisk still here. He thought the kid would've gone home.

“Papyrus told me to come get you. Dinner's almost ready.”

“uhh...” He glances at the screens and then back at Frisk. “sure. i'll be right up.” Frisk raises a skeptical brow and crosses their arms.

“Really?” They ask skeptically.

“yeah. just uh... gimme ten minutes.” He says with an awkward smile. Their brow raises higher and the two stare at each other in silence, Sans not giving in to Frisk's look. Frisk then sighs, dropping their arms.

“Alright. If you aren't upstairs in ten minutes or less though you know Papyrus will come and get you by force.” He chuckles and shrugs.

“not the worst thing that could happen.” Frisk walks out of the basement and Sans sighs, looking at the screens, looking at the tiny bar on one of them that read '2%' This was definitely going to take a long time. _He gets back to work..._

He reaches for his mug that was brought down to him earlier, courtesy of Papyrus, telling him that he should 'stay hydrated.' He barely touched it as he worked, so it was still pretty full of some kind of tea, he wasn't paying attention to what kind-

“ALRIGHT UP WE GO!” Sans flinched and gasped hard as he was suddenly lifted from his seat _and his mug fell from his hand._ It was like it all happened in slow motion. He stared, sockets wide in panic, as he was slowly being lifted by his brother. _How did he not hear Papyrus? He could always hear Papyrus._ He slowly felt the ceramic texture slip out of his hand as he went up, the liquid inside slowly sloshing and jumping out in every direction. And he couldn't do anything except stare in horror as it all spilled into every nook and cranny of the keyboard and splashing all over the screens and the open ports. He watched as the sparks and smoke slowly rose from ruined electronics. This was bad. So, SO BAD!

Time caught up with him and he could hear the sizzling and sparking of electricity, the shortage sounds coming from the screens. He had no idea that Papyrus actually took a step back when sparks started flying until he struggled in his grip.

“p-paps! lemme down! i need to-!”

_BANG!_

He and Papyrus were literally thrown backwards and into the washing machine after a loud bang filled the air and everything went blinding white...

The ear-piercing ringing rang through his skull and he groaned as he felt himself getting shaken.

“-ns! -ans!” He blinked his sockets a few times. His vision was temporarily blurry... but he could make out Frisk's figure... and some of their face... They looked extremely concerned and worried. “-ans! -yrus! -ke up!” Smoke. He smelled smoked. His vision came back a little more. There was smoke filling the basement. 

_The machine._

Sans snapped open his sockets and his eye lights looked in the direction of the machine, which he couldn't see because of the smoke but he could see some flickers of flames...  _ and movement. What?  _ Frisk grabs him, getting his attention, and he can finally see and hear them. They were coughing because of the smoke and their face was red.

“Sans! What happened?!” What happened...?

_Papyrus._

Sans quickly twists his body around and sees Papyrus unconscious. He quickly gets out of his brother's grip and shakes him.

“p-pap! papyrus! wake up!” He hears Frisk cough more and looks at them. They shouldn't be in the basement. Not with all this smoke. He stands with Papyrus hanging off of him and he slowly and gently hands him over to Frisk. “get him upstairs! get some air!”

“What about the fire?!” Frisk asks in a panic, holding Papyrus awkwardly.

“i'll open the windows to let the smoke out! there's an extinguisher in the kitchen! go!” Frisk nods and quickly makes there way up and out of the basement. Sans maneuvered his way through the smoke so he could get to the only two windows that were in the basement. The last thing he needed was for smoke to fill his home while Frisk was here. He should've known better though. He knew that if he opened those two windows the fire would just spread, maybe even cause another explosion... but would that have been so bad? If the machine exploded it still would've counted as getting rid of it. And if the basement or the house gets damaged, he could always just get it repaired. He opened the first window, feeling the cold winter air coming in and watching the smoke go out. As he made his way towards the second one however, he tripped. He would've thought it was his chair... _if it didn't groan and move when he fell over._

He scrambled up only to fall back onto something else, which also groaned and growled and felt like clothing. What just happened? Who was here with him?

“ugghh... the fuck just happened?” He heard a very gruff and tired voice say. Because the smoke was disappearing out the open window, Sans could start to see... figures. _Bodies..._ Long bodies, wide bodies, big bodies... He saw some of the silhouetted figures start to stand. The long bodies turned into tall bodies and the wide bodies turned into... small bodies... about his size actually. He then heard coughing coming from a few of them before-

“OH MY STARS!” He heard a high-pitched voice exclaim. “F-FIRE! FIRE! PAPY! PAPY WHERE ARE YOU- OOF!” He heard a body fall over. What? Papy?

“Sans!” Sans turns and sees Frisk coming into the basement, fire extinguisher in hand and a bandanna around their face. He goes to them so they don't have to get further into the smoke and fire and grabs the extinguisher before running towards the flames and machine. As he did though... he couldn't help but stare into the smoke. Some of the bodies that were nearest to him were visible and he could see... _Papyrus? And... himself? Passed out on the floor and wearing... different clothing..._

He couldn't worry about it right now. He had a fire to put out. He pointed and sprayed the foam in every direction until the fire was gone completely. He then dropped the canister and rushed towards the second window, opening it. By this time though... he could see all the extra bodies in the room.  _ All twenty-two of them. He CHECKED them. All of them... They were all him... and Papyrus... But how was that possible?  _ What he didn't like even more was how almost over half of them had different levels of LV. He then remembered Frisk as they let out a cough. He looked up at them and saw that they were staring at all the bodies in complete shock. Sans however, had focused on the ones that had gotten to their feet and were in a complete daze still.

A version of him and Papyrus dressed in sharp black and red clothing with spikes and having sharp teeth. The version of him seemed to have a gold tooth that was just as sharp as the rest of his mouth and red eye lights in his sockets instead of white and the version of his brother with cracks going over his left socket.

A version of him and Papyrus... dressed like they had swapped clothing styles. The version of him had a blue cape draping behind him and in his sockets were light blue eye lights. The version of Papyrus though... Sans hated to say it but he looked just like him posture and facial wise; slumped and exhausted.

A version of him and Papyrus... with cracks going over their sockets and... holes in their palms... Their faces were a tad slender as well as their bodies...  _ He didn't like that. He didn't like that one bit.  _

He looked at the ones still on the ground. Some of them were starting to stir though. The ones that were stirring were versions that looked like they came from some space convention, a version where... it looked like a mix between the edgy looking versions and the swapped versions, and... Wait... This one didn't seem to have a Papyrus with him. This version of himself had a red scarf wrapped around his neck and... a red and purple eye light... And this one had the most LV out of all of them...

He then stared at the rest that were on the ground, spotting five other hims that weren't accompanied by a brother... but he didn't like the looks of half of them. One of them looked like him but... was nothing but a mess of black goop. Another was one of him were it looked like he was physically glitching in and out of existence and had black, red and yellow bones. In fact... could see 'ERROR' signs hovering over him and glitching out as well. And then... he didn't like the looks of the him that seemed to have a target in front of their body. What was that anyway? It looked to be in the place a soul would be on him but... certainly that couldn't be that version's soul... right? There were others but...

He heard a low grumble that literally vibrated the air. He turned towards the noise only to stare. There was a version of him... a huge version of him... with the left side of his skull smashed in and missing, and a version of Papyrus... He winced. It was like a car wreck. He wanted to look away but couldn't. This version of this brother was much taller than his Papyrus and looked horrible; teeth crooked, stained red and sharp, his body thin, if that was even possible... and wearing Papyrus' old 'battle body' only it was worn. Very worn. He watched as the giant version of himself stirred and... a huge, blood-red eye light was in his left socket, the right one void of any light.

“nnngh...” He grumbled. “... what...? where...?” He watched as the eye light swept over the room, looking completely dazed... _until it landed on Frisk._ The moment it did it was like this version of himself was now wide awake. The growl that came from him was so deep and _so feral_. “ _ **Y O U.**_ ” He doesn't know how it happened but the next thing he knew Sans was body slamming this bigger version of himself to the floor, an ax getting thrown and lodged into the basement wall. By this time almost all the versions were either stirring or staring in complete and utter shock at the scenario in front of them. Sans wrestled the bigger him down as he tried thrashing about, snarling and snapping and clawing, all in the direction of Frisk, who was trembling in fear.

“r-run kid!” Sans says to them, making them flinch and look at him in utter concern. “do it! go!” They nod shakily and quickly get out of the basement. He looked at the edgy version of himself. “hey!” He said, getting his attention. “help me keep him down!” The version stared at him and the bigger him before raising his hands and chuckling nervously.

“yea fuckin' right. i ain't stupid ta mess wit' a monster actin' like that.” Before Sans could say anything else he and his bigger self were suddenly lifted into the air in a tight grip.

“SANS! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!” It... sounded like Papyrus... but... Sans slowly craned his head around and stared. He noticed another feature on this Papyrus he wish he didn't. His sockets were sunken.

“it's them!” Said the bigger him. “the traitor! i'm gonna kill 'em! 'm gonna rip 'em ta shreds and watch 'em bleed out!” Jesus Christ on a bike... Sans had to get a hold of the situation and fast. 

“hey!” He yelled out. The bigger him stopped struggling and slowly turned his head around and glanced down at him as much as he could. He then saw he had everyone's attention. He felt his entire body vibrate as the bigger him let a growl and narrowed his sockets at him.

“ _who the fuck are you?_ ” Bigger him growled out. Sans stared, sockets narrowed a bit and him sweating a little.

“that's what i would like to know.” He replied. “so why don't we just... calm down... and see if we can't figure out what's going on, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on tumblr if you want. I've been posting mostly status and story updates.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mixing-up-details)


	5. Chapter 5: Skeletal POV PT 2

It wasn't easy. Bigger him wasn't the only one out for dust. The moment goopy him and glitchy him became more aware, they almost would've dusted everyone in the basement if it wasn't for artist him and bow-and-arrow him keeping them at bay before they just... disappeared. Goopy him literally melted away and glitchy him opened up a pixelated portal and jumped through it, closing the portal behind him. Well... it was two less bodies in the already cramped basement at least...?

But then he had to worry about the him with the target on his chest and blank sockets and the him that was wearing a familiar red scarf and weird red-purple eye light. Those two were extremely dangerous. They had such high LV... yet they were calm. At least, calmer than the two that ran off. They looked at everyone in the basement in a tense and threatening manner, like they were just waiting for someone to attack. When Sans finally had everyone under control, he let out a heavy sigh.

“alright...” He started, a hand running over his skull and getting everyone's attention. “'m just gonna ask this once... who are all of you?” Edgy him let out a burst of laughter.

“who are _we?_ isn't it obvious? ha! we're you dipshit!” Sans glared as edgy him laughed more only to stop when his edgy brother smacked him across the skull. He then looked at Sans and everyone else.

“YOU HONESTLY MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I AM LOOKING AT CLONES?” Sans watched as he glared at the entire room, judging them. “UGH. ALL OF THEM LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE DISASTER!”

“ya know not all of us can look like we walked outta literal hell.” The lazy version of his brother said before looking at bigger him and his brother and at the two pair of alternates that looked similar yet different to each other. One pair wore faded purple colors and they both had sharp teeth. That him though had... really strange looking eye lights. The left socket had three purple triangles in some weird connected pattern as the eye light and the right socket had the same design, only it was in a white circle.

The other pair looked like the edgy pair just... swapped in a way. The version of his brother had a gold fang and was wearing a parka just like the edgy him. Though that version of him... had a permanent scowl and glare, cracks going over his left socket and red eye lights glaring at the lazy version of his brother. Okay. He had to give them all names. He couldn't keep thinking like this.

“I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW YOU PATHETIC LOOKING VERSION OF ME THAT PEOPLE FEAR AND RESPECT THOSE DRESSED LIKE THEY CAN'T LOSE A FIGHT!” The edgy brother scowled. “AND IT HELPS EVEN MORE WHEN YOU A HAVE REPUTATION SUCH AS MINE FOR BEING CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD AND NEVER LOSING A FIGHT!”

“c'mon guys don't fight.” Sans says cautiously yet warningly, getting everyone's attention. “look, i don't know about all of you but i would rather be using some kinda nicknames for all of us unless you want to suffer with a giant headache.”

“Ooh! I already have a nickname!” Says the version of his brother... with the cracks going from his sockets and holes in his palms. He clears his throat and gestures to himself. “You all can call me Green to make things easier.” He says with a smile.

“Green huh?” Says the him with the same features and yellow eye lights. “How'd you come up with that?”

“It was given to me by the human after the accident. What do they call you?” _Wait... what? These two weren't brothers?_ The him chuckles.

“G. They call me G.”

“G? How practical.” The two chuckle, as if telling an inside joke.

“UM. WE HAVE NICKNAMES TOO.” Says the him with the blue cape and light blue eye lights. “I AM KNOWN SOMETIMES AS BLUEBERRY, OR BLUE FOR SHORT.” He says with a happy smile. He then gestures to his brother, who says with a sigh,

“and i'm known as stretch sometimes.” Edgy him chuckles and shrugs.

“guess ya can call me red then. what about you boss?”

“HMPH! WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO GO BY A NICKNAME? I SHALL BE NOTHING MORE THAN THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!”

“ya can pick out yer own nickname. make it just as intimidatin' as yer actual name, somethin' ta represent yer great and terrible reputation.” Red says. He watches as the brother stares at him before humming.

“YOU MAKE A POINT...” He then smirks. “NYEH HEH HEH... I HAVE JUST THE PERFECT NAME THEN!”

“lay it on us bro.”

“THE GREAT! AND TERRIBLE! EDGE! BECAUSE NOTHING IS MORE DANGEROUS AND DEADLY AND CUTS OH-SO CLEANLY THAN A WEAPON AT ITS SHARPEST!” Sans just... stares. Okay then... He hears the version of his brother in faded purple talk.

“nicknames huh? well... i guess i can go by slim. bro?”

“WELL... I WAS CALLED A MULBERRY ONCE... SO I GUESS I CAN DO THAT. MUL FOR SHORT.” Another berry huh?

“IF WE SERIOUSLY ARE GOING BY NICKNAMES, I REFUSE TO BE REFERRED TO AS SOMETHING SO RIDICULOUS!” Says the him that looks like Mulberry and Red mixed. “YOU ALL SHALL REFER TO ME AS THE MALEVOLENT BLACK!” He then points to his brother. “AND THIS IS MY GOOD FOR NOTHING MUTT OF A BROTHER.” Wh...?

“just call me mutt.” He says with a shrug. He then chuckles and nudges Black. “maybe ya should be a 'berry' too m'lord.”

“I REFUSE TO BE-!”

“OOH! WE COULD BE OUR OWN GROUP!” Blueberry says excitedly. “THE BERRIES! EHH? EHH?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

“blackberry it is then.” Red chuckles. “yer definitely tiny enough.”

“ _YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!_ ” Actually... now that Sans was looking, Black was the shortest him present- _Something touched him._ Sans flinched and looked to see... the odder of the alternate hims, putting an arm around him. He was dressed in... a black sleeveless crop top, a purple vest with neon blue fluff around the edges, tight black pants and... neon blue heeled boots. He looked like a 'working' monster. His eye lights were purple and he had this... _smile_ Sans did not like in the least, especially when his sockets were lidded, making it look worse. He then chuckles... mischievously... and looks at the rest of the room.

“all you delicious honeys can call me whatever you want~” He... says with a wink. Sans shudders.

“howz about whore?” Red says in a bit of disgust. “seriously, the fuck's wrong wit' chu?” Sans feels the him next to him get pulled away and he looks and stares at the matching brother. He wore some kind of full body tight black suit and... was sporting a pink ecto-body, the chest being visible.

“Please Excuse My Brother.” He says with an apologetic smile. “You All Can Call Me... Um...” He pauses, taking a moment to think before snapping. “Ooh! Pink!”

“oooh~ i like that bro~ after all it is your best color.” He says with a wink. “as for me...” Sans sees him eye Blue, Mul and Black with a... suggestive look on his face. “i think i wanna be a part of that cute little 'berry' group~”

“please don't.” Stretch and Slim say, disturbed.

“DO NOT ASSOCIATE ME WITH _THESE_ WANNABES!” Black barks. He sighs... dramatically, pouting and looking disappointed.

“aww. alright fine then. i know when i'm not wanted.” He then gives a sly smile. “but i still wanna be called something yummy~ so... you all can call me plum~” This pair was no doubt going to be difficult if 'Plum' was going to keep acting like _that_.

“killer.” Sans turns his attention to the one who spoke. The one with the target in front of him. 'Killer' chuckles, sounding amused. “don't think i need to explain why i'm called that. i know most of you already performed a check on everyone here when you became more self-aware.” He then gestured to the him with the red-purple eye light. “and this fella here is dusty.” Sans sees 'Dusty' snap his head and growl at Killer. _He didn't like those nicknames._

“the fuck are ya doin'?” He growls.

“oh relax. it ain't like we're goin' anywhere anytime soon since we just got ditched. plus, i dunno about you but i really don't wanna be referred to by my real name.” Dusty grumbled and looked away.

“um.” Says bow-and-arrow him nervously. “hi. heh. i'm dream. that's not a nickname it's my actual name. the one who disappeared in a pile of slime was my twin brother nightmare.”

“twin brother?” Red says, confused. 'Dream' nods.

“yeah and i know what's going through your minds but it's best if everyone is in a more... calm state of mind before i say anything more.” He says with a nervous smile.

“well, i'm ink.” Says artist him with a smile, looking like he didn't have a care in the world, like this situation was just normal. Sans noticed that his eye lights changed shape and color every time he blinked. 'Ink' looked at everyone in the room and whistled. “man there sure are a lot of you this time.”

“th-this time?” Sans asked confused. Ink nods and chuckles.

“oh yeah, totally! i mean, don't get me wrong, i've seen many other aus where there are actually more than just this group present. like, so much more. it's crazy.” He laughs and Sans just stares. He kind of knew what Ink was talking about; other alternate realities. The proof was in front of him after all. But... the fact that there was possibly more than just what was present in his basement right now, way more...? _He didn't know if he could handle this group as it was..._

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” Black says with narrowed sockets. Ink chuckles again and looks at everyone... apologetically?

“heh! sorry! i can't tell ya. now isn't the right time.”

“then when will be the right time?” Mutt says. Ink shrugs and says... happily,

“dunno!” This version of him was throwing Sans for a loop, that much was for sure. He then sees Ink take the giant paintbrush off his back, making some of the others flinch, _they probably thought he was going to attack_ , and gives everyone a smile. “welp, i gotta get back. can't leave error all by himself. nice to see everyone though! can't wait to see how this turns out!” Sans, as well as almost everyone else, watches in surprise as Ink paints a streak of black paint on the ground and... jumps through it, disappearing and leaving behind the paint streak.

“okay this is some bullshit.” Red says with an agitated huff. “i don't wanna be here wit' any o' you any more than i have ta and i know you all feel the same.” There were some mumbles of agreement...

“uhh...” Sans looks at the him that was wearing yellow and blues, looking like they came from some space convention with their rather... space themed clothes, like the slippers and the sparkling cape and the... obvious star related decals. He and his matching brother were looking out one of the basement windows in... confusion yet wonderment. Sans noticed that the two were practically the spitting image of him and Papyrus compared to the others. “hey other me... by any chance... where are we?”

“uhh... my house?” Sans replied, confused a little. The alternate shakes his head.

“no i mean... where? in the galaxy?”

“galaxy?” What did that mean?

“prolly still under the mountain in snowdin.” Red says with a half shrug. He blinks, confused.

“snowdin? don't you mean stardin?”

“wh...? no i mean snowdin. the hell 're ya talkin' about?” _Wait..._ Sans looked at everyone... _Where in their timelines were everybody? Were they... still underground?_

“we're... actually on the surface.” He says slowly. He saw that made half the heads snap at him and stare in either awe or disbelief.

“the surface...?” He heard bigger him mumble... before he started to chuckle. “you're on the _surface_. hehehehe... hahahaha!” He starting laughing, his smile growing manic and his giant eye light shrinking. Everyone in the room stared uncomfortably and anxiously at him, even taking a step back. He then abruptly stopped... and Sans cringed when he started tugging on the edge of his empty socket, looking completely crazed. Sans then flinched when the giant eye light snapped right at him. “of _course_ you're on the surface... hehehe... of course _you_ weren't abandoned...” He then shivered as the eye light looked him over and his smile went even crazier. “hehehe... i can see it... you're so _pampered_... ya got such an easy life, don'tcha bud? not havin' ta worry about anything... hehehe!” Sans swallowed nervously, trying to stay calm.

“trust me pal, it's been anything but easy.” He says, sockets narrowed, ready to dodge if bigger him suddenly attacked. The skeleton was totally unhinged. Bigger him laughs loudly.

“not easy? not _easy_?! ya wanna know what isn't easy _pal_?!” Sans' sockets widen and he stares as bigger him suddenly has him lifted into the air and brought closer to him and his manic grin. He was caught in the BLUE magic. “livin' in a dyin' world for who knows how long where there's little to no food to be found anywhere. where ya neighbors wanna eat ya but can't because ya can't eat _dust_ , dustin' ya neighbors because yer both fightin' over the same scrap of food, bein' ruled by a complete _bitch_ who cares for only herself,” His smile widen and his sockets narrowed. “ _hunting and eating any and all humans that fall into the underground, too hungry to care about taking their soul so we can break the barrier._ ” Sans couldn't help but feel completely intimidated and scared for his life. Was that really the world this version of him lived in? Bigger him chuckles. “so tell me other me, _what's not easy about being on the surface?_ ” Sans didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. What would he say?

“holy shit...” But apparently Red had something to say. “are... are ya serious?” Sans suddenly gets dropped to ground and he goes to stare at Red only to notice everyone's expression. They were all... stunned... horrified. Well... except for bigger him's brother, who looked guilty, and... Killer and Dusty. Killer seemed to be amused at everyone's expressions and Dusty just looked like he didn't care. He hears bigger him chuckle and sees Red flinch and sweat.

“the proof 's right here.” Sans looks and sees bigger him hook a hand... _into the hole in his head._ “what ya see is the doin' of our ' _queen_.'” He said 'queen' with a sneer.

“t-tori did that...?” Sans stuttered. Bigger him laughs loudly.

“toriel?! ha! no one's seen that bitch after she got booted from the throne and exiled!” Sans stares in disbelief. Bigger him chuckles, dropping his hand from his head... only to hook his other hand to his socket. “nah... we got a new queen. at first everyone thought it would be a good idea. i mean after all, who better to be the brave leader in our time of need after the kid _dusted_ asgore and all the souls disappeared than the captain of the royal guard herself?” What? Asgore was gone?

“UNDYNE?”

“ALPHYS?” Edge and Blue say at the same time before looking at each other.

“ALPHYS?” Edge says with a sneer. “SHE ISN'T A ROYAL GUARD, SHE'S THE ROYAL SCIENTIST!”

“yeah and a complete nutjob too.” Red mumbles.

“WELL ACTUALLY... UNDYNE IS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST AND ALPHYS IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD.” Blue says, confused.

“there's a chance you're both right bro.” Stretch says. Bigger him chuckles, getting everyone's attention.

“nah. not alphys. that traitor deserves to tossed into the core.” He says... tugging at his socket. “nah... the queen is none other than un-dick herself.” Red and Edge let out a laugh.

“un-dick! that's a good one!” Red howls. “aww man i gotta remember that one!”

“NYAH HAH HAH! SUCH A NAME WOULD SURELY SULLY HER STATUS MORE!” Edge laughs. Bigger him chuckles again before looking at Sans, who flinched.

“you can call me whatever you want, i don't care.” His sockets narrowed and he leered with a smile. “but call my brother anything unflattering...” His smile went a little manic. “ _then i can promise ya i'll make you look unflattering._ ” Sans swallowed.

“oh. right. nicknames.” Sans looks at the pair of 'star' brothers. “well... you can call me comet i guess.”

“AND YOU CAN CALL ME THE GREAT CEPHEUS!”

“ooh, cepheus. pretty cool of you bro.” Comet says with a... proud smile. He really was the closest to being a full on copy of Sans. Sans then jumps when he hears the grating and splitting of wood. When he turns around he sees bigger him, finally, getting the ax he threw out of the basement wall... _Would it be ironic or insulting if Sans just stuck with calling him Ax?_

“well if ya don't care whatcha get called, i got a name fer ya big guy.” Red says. “howz about axe? with an 'e' at the end?” He gets the ax out of the wall and looks unamused at Red.

“because i carry an ax-? wait...” He narrows his sockets, looking confused. “why is there an 'e' at the end?”

“because man yer motherfuckin' craz- _e_.”

_Silence... Silence for what felt like forever, but probably only lasted a couple of moments._

He chuckles.

“wow.” He says, shaking his head. “alright. fine. axe with an 'e' it is.” Red lets out a sigh of, probably, relief, looking proud of himself. Sans heard him mumble something along the lines of,

“oh thank asgore that worked.” Red then looked at 'Axe's' brother. “and you.” The brother flinches. He was very quiet. Very unusual. Sans expected at least some chatter from an alternate of Papyrus.

“O-OH! YES?” Red stares and hums, looking him over, before saying,

“crooks-” The ax was suddenly brought down in front of Red, just mere centimeters away from him, making his sockets widen in utter surprise and sweat bead his skull, and Axe was right by his side, giving him a manic look and smile.

“i'm sorry. i didn't quite catch that.” Axe leans over Red more. “ _what did you just call my brother?_ ” Red stuttered, completely stunned.

“u-u-u-u-h... i-i-i-i-i...”

“p-paps!” Sans says quickly, wanting to de-escalate the situation as quickly as possible. Axe looks over at him and... stares. He was waiting for Sans to go on. “h-he said... w-we'll call him paps.” Axe stared a little longer before chuckling and backing away from Red, swinging back and resting his ax on his shoulder.

“see, that's what i thought you said.” He said, voice sounding... innocent. “my hearing isn't exactly all that great so i just had to make sure i was hearing you right.” Jesus Christ on a bike...

“SANS?” Sans' eye lights shrink and he looks at the stairway of the basement. _Papyrus_. His Papyrus. He heard the footsteps coming down the stairs.

“w-wait papyrus-!” Too late. Papyrus was already visible on the stairs and Sans saw him staring at the room in shock. Sans saw everyone look at Papyrus, though... Axe looked a little agitated and looked away.

“WHAT'S...?” Papyrus finally speaks. “... WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?” He says, looking at Sans, confused. “LAST THING I REMEMBER... I WAS COMING TO GET YOU FOR DINNER... AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW, I'M WAKING UP TO FRISK PACING BACK AND FORTH.”

“u-um...” How could Sans explain this to _Papyrus_? He wouldn't understand.

“what does it look like genius?” Red says with a huff. Sans shoots a glare at Red before looking at Papyrus nervously when he speaks.

“WELL...” Papyrus says, looking at everyone, some who looked at him nervously, some with a glare, and some not even caring. “... IT LOOKS LIKE I NEED TO MAKE SOME EXTRA FOOD.”

_What?_ Sans blinks, completely caught off guard. He saw that Papyrus' words also caught almost everyone else completely off guard. Papyrus chuckles. “NYEH HEH! NO NEED TO LOOK SO SURPRISED. DON'T GET ME WRONG I AM VERY CONFUSED BUT... I'M SURE I'LL BE TOLD SOON ENOUGH.” Bless Papyrus but also... how was he not freaking out like Sans was? Why was he acting like this wasn't a big deal, seeing sudden strangers in their _basement_ that look more or less exactly like the both of them? Papyrus lets out a hum, squinting at everyone. “ALTHOUGH... I DON'T THINK WE HAVE ENOUGH DISH WARE FOR EVERYONE.”

“i don't think that's gonna be a problem.” Stretch says. He then nudges his brother. “say bro, why don't you go join other me huh? maybe help him out?” Sans snaps his eye lights at Stretch. Was he serious? _Sans didn't want anyone going anywhere until he knew what was going on-_ Stretch stares at him... and... the look on his face... was something Sans could understand. It was saying to trust him...

“OH. UHH... SURE.” Blue says with a nod before walking over to Papyrus.

“'ey boss.” Red says, nudging Edge's side. “maybe you should join 'em. if they really are goin' ta prep some grub ya should give 'em yer expertise.” Edge glares down at Red, who just gives an innocent smile.

“I'M NOT AN IDIOT SANS. I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING.” Edge says... before huffing. “BUT I SUPPOSE YOU MAKE A POINT.” He then chuckles. “I HAVE TO MAKE SURE ANY FOOD MADE FOR ME IS MET WITH MY STANDARDS.” Edge joins Papyrus and Blue. Sans finally caught what was going on. Leave the more important people in the basement while everyone else can get away from the tension.

“ _YOUR_ STANDARDS?!” Black says with a disgusted scowl, marching up to the forming group. “I THINK NOT! I BET YOUR SO CALLED 'STANDARDS' DON'T EVEN HOLD A CANDLE TO _MY_ STANDARDS!” Black and Edge started to bicker and Sans felt uneasy having to leave his brother with those two. Pink, Cepheus and 'Crooks' joined the group as well and Papyrus was... more than thrilled.

“ALRIGHTY THEN EVERYONE! FOLLOW ME! ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU MY WONDERFUL HOME!” Sans watched as they headed up the stairs with Papyrus. When they were all out of sight, he looked at who was left. He kinda hoped more would've left with the group but... he had a feeling those who were still around would probably give him the information everyone else was going to need to hear.

“so...” Stretch says, breaking the silence and getting everyone's attention. “let's get everything out on the table, yeah? all of us still here obviously want to know what happened so...” He looks at Sans. “what happened?”

“I think it's a little obvious.” G says, getting everyone's attention. He points to the charred and foam covered machine. “Someone messed with something they shouldn't have.” Sans flinched and sweated a little.

“now hold on a second.” He says, raising his hands in defense. “i didn't do anything. it was an accident. i was erasing the data manually and then-”

“You were _what?_ ” Green says in complete shock, sockets wide. He sees almost everyone else with the same expression. “Why in the king and queen's name would you want to do that?”

“so i could sell the chip-”

“ _Sell_ the _chip_?” G says in disbelief, sockets even wider.

“the fuck 're ya thinkin'?!” Red exclaims. “the only way you would get that chip was if ya tore apart the entire machine!”

“that was... kind of the plan.” He sees everyone stare at him like he was crazy.

“You... want to tear apart the machine?” G asks, confused. “Why?” Sans grits his teeth.

“because i was so sick and tired of being _paranoid_.” He growls and glares. “i've spent these three passing years on the surface just waiting for the kid upstairs to just... reset everything! i missed so much and i hated it! even when frisk told me that they would never reset... i didn't believe them. i just...” He trails off and sighs heavily. “yesterday was the new year... and i came to the realization that frisk was actually keeping their promise. and after i realized _that_... i realized that i could finally start to live and not have to worry about waking up in the underground...” He gestures angrily to the machine. “and then i realized i wouldn't be able to start that life so long as that _damn_ machine is still in existence. so i swore i would start taking it apart and sell its pieces far from here to as many people as i could.” There was some silence as everyone looked at him, each other, and the machine.

“so what happened?” Slim says, breaking the silence. Sans sighs, running a hand over his skull.

“turns out wiping the memory of the machine was going to take some time and needed to be done manually. the estimated time was about a few days... maybe a week. i was so focused on getting everything wiped that... i didn't hear papyrus- that i didn't hear _my_ brother, come down to get me.” He searches the ground before pointing at a charred and broken mug next to the machine, making everyone look, seeing the realization hit their face. “yeah... i don't know what happened to the coding but the next thing i know i'm waking up to the kid shaking me and there's smoke filling the room and fire coming from the machine... and you guys on the floor.”

“welp,” Stretch says, wiping off some foam from the machine and looking it over. “hate to break it to ya bud but it looks like you're gonna have to keep this thing around a little longer if we're ever gonna get back to our own homes.” Sans sighs and groans.

“hey.” Red says, getting Sans' attention. He looks curious as he's looking out the basement window. “... are we really on the surface?” Right. These alternates were probably still under the mountain. Sans nods.

“yeah.”

“and... ya've been on the surface fer three years?” Sans sighs.

“yep.” He looks at everyone else. “which... leads me to this question... what about all of you? where... are you?”

“still underground.” Red says.

“same.” Mutt says.

“yep.” Axe replies with a roll of his eye light.

“same here.” Plum says with a dramatic sigh. Sans looks at the others.

“my bro and i are on the surface.” Stretch says. “have been for about two years.”

“SAME WITH US.” Mulberry says. “ONLY, WE'VE BEEN ON THE SURFACE FOR FIVE.” Well... at least Sans wouldn't have to worry about those two groups. He looks at the others.

“and you guys?” G and Green look at each other before looking at Sans.

“If our worlds are anything alike, then we don't have a world to return to.” G says.

“You would be correct in thinking so G.” Green says with a nod.

“wait, wait, wait.” Red says, looking at the two confused. “ya mean... yous two ain't brothers?”

“Nope.” G says before looking at Stretch and Sans. “We're like these two. Similar, yet different. Our situations were reversed. Our worlds may be seem similar but we do not come from the same timeline, which is to say we don't have one anymore.”

“what happened?” Stretch asked.

“Long story short, our worlds were glitches. Once those glitches were fixed, we no longer existed in that world, but _we_ still existed.” Green says. “If I am to assume correctly the same thing happened to G then... we've been stuck in the void before coming here.”

“You'd be correct.” G says with a smile.

“damn...” Red says. Sans would have to talk to the two separately but right now he had to focus on the others who had yet to respond.

“what about you guys?” Sans asked Comet. “you... asked about what galaxy you were in?” Comet chuckles and rubs the back of his neck nervously.

“yeah uh... judging from everybody else's answer, i take it i'm the only one from a timeline where all of monster kind is trapped in space.” Comet flinched when everyone snapped their heads towards him. He gave a nervous chuckle. “wh-what?”

“monster kind... is in _space_?” Slim says in disbelief. Comet nods.

“heh, yeah.”

“b-but... how is that possible?” Red asks. Comet shrugs.

“i dunno the full details but... the story goes we were sent into space by the humans after losing the war. monster kind was stuck in the ebott quadrant with an em field surrounding the meteorites we call our home, preventing any means of escape. now, alphys and frisk have been trying their best to bring down the field but so far, no luck.”

“Interesting.” G says. “Would you mind talking more about your timeline at a later date?” Comet chuckles.

“yeah sure. i can tell you're all interested.” No kidding. Sans then looks at the remaining three; Dream, Dusty and Killer, the latter two looking uninterested in everything that was going on.

“what about you three?” Sans says. Killer chuckles while Dusty huffs and looks away.

“they don't have a home to return to.” Dream says, getting everyone's attention. He swallows. “they... actually travel with my brother nightmare throughout the aus doing nothing but spreading negativity, which my brother feeds on.” Killer chuckles and hooks an arm around Dream's shoulders, who flinches.

“pipsqueak here is correct.” He says with a smile. “we travel the multiverse with our boss, havin' as much fun to our soul's content.” Everyone stares at Killer and Dusty nervously now. Killer chuckles again and let's Dream go. “but as you saw, our boss ditched us. so we're stuck here for awhile until he comes to get us, which,” He shrugs. “could be at anytime. and since there's currently no point in killing all of you and bringing this timeline into complete and utter chaos, we're not a threat to you guys... yet.” He says with a chuckle. He then waves a dismissive hand. “i don't need to hear about everyone's sap stories and timelines. i already know all of them. so if anyone needs me, which i highly doubt, i'm gonna be upstairs watching the disaster that is all of your brothers turn your kitchen into a giant fire hazard.” Sans flinched. No way he was going to let these two anywhere near his brother. It seemed everyone else had the same idea as they blocked Killer's way on instinct. Killer stared... and then chuckled.

“oh relax. i just said we're not a threat. right dusty?”

“tch.” Dusty rolls his eye lights. “last thing i need is getting ganged up on.” Killer chuckles.

“see? same with me. it'd be stupid of us to attack all of you. after all, it would be two against nineteen. not very fair odds. sooo...” He pushes his way through the defending group, Dusty following behind him, everyone watching them anxiously. “if you'll excuse us.” The two head up the stairs and when they get out of sight, everyone looks at each other anxiously.

“no doubt we're gonna have ta keep an eye on those two.” Red said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Sans then looks at Dream.

“what about you? what's your story?” Dream gives a nervous smile.

“well... i'm a guardian. i spread positivity and hope throughout the aus and protect them from being corrupted by my brother and his gang with help from ink.”

“so lemme guess,” Red says, narrowing his sockets at Dream. “yer gonna disappear on us too right?” Dream frowns a little.

“trust me, i wish i could help all of you but i can't. just like how my brother feeds on and lives off of negative energy, i live on positive energy. we can only travel to different aus if there's enough positive or negative energy being emitted from them. however, if either of us come into contact with the opposite energy, we become very weak. now i'm saying this... because half of you come from an au where it's more negative than positive. not to mention these two,” He gestures to G and Green. “don't even have an au to return to.” There was a bit of silence between everyone... And then Stretch spoke.

“what about the other half of us? can't you take us home?” Dream furrows his brows and frowns.

“i can try but... even right now i'm having trouble.”

“what do you mean?” Comet asked.

“i mean i can't seem to connect to any of your aus. it's like they're... being blocked.”

“Blocked?” G asks curiously. Dream nods.

“i mean, i can read the energy off of every one to determine the au they came from but... i just can't access them. i don't feel... anything coming from your aus. it's like they don't exist.”

“so you can't leave?” Sans asked. Dream shakes his head.

“no. i mean, i can leave this au like ink, error and nightmare did but... i just can't access all the aus present.” Sans sighed. Great... “i should get going though.” Everyone looks at him and he sweats nervously. “i-i'll come back don't worry. i want to help everyone as best as i can but i need to first figure out why your aus are acting like they don't exist and to do that i'd need ink's help. not to mention i need to keep nightmare in check from corrupting other aus. even with killer and dusty here, my brother can corrupt aus rather quickly.”

“It makes sense.” G says. “Just... do you think when you return you could tell us a bit about those who have fled?” Dream nods.

“of course. i'll be back as soon as i can.” Dream then disappears and Sans looks at everyone left.

“Well, guess we should go join the others upstairs right?” G says, getting everyone's attention. “After all, we should all probably make some rules while we're all here since most of us have never been on the surface. Not to mention we don't exactly know everyone's stories.” As much as Sans hated to admit it, G had a point. Although... there was still the matter of the machine. He couldn't leave it looking like a foam mess.

“agreed.” Stretch says. “but first, we should probably clear off the machine. it's a complete mess and the last thing we need is something being completely ruined.” Sans hears Axe give a huff.

“you all can mess with that stupid machine all you want. i tore mine up a long time ago just to make ends meat, which barely even helped. i'm going upstairs to join the others. besides,” He chuckles and grins rather widely. “why would i want to help you guys anyway? unlike you all, i don't want to return to my timeline.” Sans' eye lights shrink and he looks at Axe. _No. He couldn't let any of them stay here, especially Axe and Crooks._

“you don't have to help us.” Stretch says with a sigh. “but if you do go upstairs try not to maul the kid again?” Oh God that's right. Axe hates Frisk with a passion... plus Frisk was a human. Sans bet that in Axe's sockets, Frisk was just food to him. Axe scoffs and rolls his eye light.

“no promises.” He then makes his way up the stairs, out of sight.

“i should probably head up there too.” Mutt says. “no doubt my bro is giving everyone else a headache.” He then goes up the stairs.

“We should probably discuss living situations.” Green says. “No doubt that your home is probably too small for all of us to stay in.” Sans sighed and rubbed his temples as he now had a massive headache. This was going to take awhile, he just knew it. He just hoped it didn't take too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on tumblr if you want. I've been posting mostly status and story updates.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mixing-up-details)


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